Posted on 12 September 2026:

🎨 #YathraCanvas — Art in a Frame

Worlds’ Within: Grant-Winning Artist Abishi Sarkar’s Solo Exhibition Opens in Varanasi

The city of Varanasi is about to witness a quiet revolution in color and consciousness. 

Abishi Sarkar, the young MFA scholar from Banaras Hindu University whose brush has already earned her the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant 2024 (worth ~$17,000, awarded by the Canada-based foundation to artists showing lifelong dedication to their craft), is set to unveil her much-awaited solo exhibition, “Worlds’ Within,” at Ahivasi Gallery, BHU, from 22 to 26 September 2026.

Mentored by acclaimed artist and professor Suresh K. Nair, and a gold medalist topper from Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Abishi’s rise has been anything but ordinary.

 “This grant is more than recognition — it’s a reminder that patience and honest practice always find their voice,” she reflects.

Among the works taking center stage is her deeply personal installation, “Remembering Hat Pakha.”

Inspired by the humble hand-fan of rural Bengal — woven from bamboo and palm leaf — the piece transforms 50 to 60 hand-illustrated Hat Pakhas, suspended from the ceiling, into a meditation on ecology, memory, and vanishing craftsmanship.

Interlaced with artisans’ own voices from Bengal, the installation gently asks: what wisdom do we lose when tradition gives way to mass production? 

Part tribute, part quiet protest, the project honors ancestral knowledge as a living guide toward sustainable, mindful futures.

“Remembering Hat Pakha –serves as both a tribute and quiet protest, urging reconsideration of progress and material choices.“

With accolades already including the Samskriti Award and the Hyundai Art for Hope Grant, Abishi Sarkar continues to prove that talent rooted in cultural memory travels far. 

🖼️ Worlds’ Within — Solo Exhibition by Abishi Sarkar
📍 Ahivasi Gallery, BHU, Varanasi
🗓️ 22–26 September 2026

Don’t miss this immersive journey — where every fan tells a story, and every canvas holds a world within.

🎨 #YathraCanvas