Reclaiming Space, Repairing Society
Mumbai houses some of the most thrilling art exhibitions and a high-energy artistic ethos within the city. Recently, the heart of Mumbai has been buzzing with an effervescent aura in the Strangers House Gallery, as they are currently showcasing the exhibition titled Prakalpana, featuring the works of Bhushan Bhombale, an artist whose art is devoted to the “architecture of repair.” The exhibition, curated by an artist cum activist, Prabhakar Kamble, is a deep dive into a judicious conjunction of the raw and the metaphysical.
Slated to run from January 8 to February 18, 2026, from 11 AM to 7 PM with free entry, this exhibition frames paradigm-shifting visual elements within the moulds of caste, migration, and material memory. One of the signature concepts propounded by the artist is that of “pais,” a term directly derived from his mother tongue that refers to something undefined yet metaphysically charged. The artist reimagines pais as the thread that connects human existence to cosmic puissance.
The Architecture of Repair
Bhushan Bombale’s Pais is seamlessly depicted as a tool that navigates even through the “undefined space.” Through the artist’s lens, the pais exhibits an inherent dichotomy and serves two primary functions. Metaphysically, it is the unending pillar of infinite height, an axis that connects the individuals to the chaotic synergy of the endless universe. The other side is socio-political. The obverse side of pais is imagined as an immigrant entering the megapolis of Mumbai. He uses pais to forge an intimate area for himself, which acts as a breathing room to continue remaining citified in an asphalt jungle.
Artist Bombale is an Ambedkarite, and this ideology is well reflected in his art as he carves out a distinct space that is quintessentially political. Residing in a society that is visibly fractured and punctuated by the concrete divisions of caste, language, and religion, his work seeks “repair.” He sculpts his art with mathematical precision that reflects a new “way of living.” His depiction of life and living refuses to be diminished by systemic discrimination.
The Media of Expression
The artist executes his art through a plethora of media. He works with recuperated wood, reclaimed steel parts originally carved to build fish trawlers in the Arabian Sea, speaker systems from folk festivals, Japanese paper, and rough cloth layered upon canvas. All these elements bear imprints of labour, ritual, and movement, and are reassembled into sculptural forms that articulate what he describes as an “undefined space.” As a result, these structures’ efflorescence blooms as what the artist calls the “speculation of life.” This “recuperation” is an act of salvage. By taking the debris of the maritime and the musical and refining them into geometric forms, he transforms the “waste” of a megacity into a sophisticated language of resilience.
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The curator, Prabhakar Kamble, also played a very crucial role in nudging the exhibition to its zenith. He is acknowledged for his refined engagement with Ambedkarite aesthetics and radical cultural discourses. As an Ambedkarite, Bhushan Bomble situates his practice within a broader struggle against caste-based discrimination and socio-political fragmentation. His sculptures do not merely occupy space; they intervene in it, proposing alternative architectures of belonging and dignity.
Glimpses of The Exhibition
| Aspects | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Prakalpana |
| Artist | Bhushan Bhombale |
| Venue | Strangers House Gallery, Mumbai |
| Dates | 8 January – 18 February 2026 |
| Timings | Tuesday – Sunday, 11 AM – 7 PM |
| Entry | Free |
| Curator | Prabhakar Kamble |
| Conceptual Framework | Pais – metaphysical and socio-political space |
| Materials | Reclaimed wood, steel, speaker systems, Japanese paper, rough cloth |
| Notable Achievements | 36th Bienal de São Paulo (2025), India Art Fair Outdoor Sculpture Program |
Key Highlights
- Sculptures constructed from reclaimed industrial and cultural materials
- Conceptual grounding in Pais, bridging metaphysical and socio-political space
- Ambedkarite ideological framework addressing caste, migration, and belonging
- Curated by Prabhakar Kamble, a significant voice in radical contemporary art discourse
- Continuation of Bhombale’s engagement with reclaimed metal forms first seen in Cycle Forms (2023)
- Part of Mumbai’s broader contemporary art circuit and Gallery Weekend programming
A Global Trajectory
Hitherto, Bhushan Bomble took part in the 36th Bienal de São Paulo (2025) and the Cairo Biennale. This exhibition brings him closer to home. Moreover, his public sculpture for the India Art Fair’s Outdoor Program in 2025 demonstrated his ability to scale his intimate explorations of Pais into the public consciousness. He was present during the opening of the Strangers House Gallery in 2023. “Prakalpan” represents a more mature and expansive version of what it means to create something with purpose. “Prakalpana” translates to an intent of creation arising from a purpose that combines varied schools of thought and material, an act of conceptual creation.
The fact that makes this exhibition distinct is that he combined varied schools of thought and material practices. He forged this into an act of assembling fragments of industrial and cultural memory into speculative architectures that challenge normative spatial orders. Thus, he created an ode that propounds the fact that art is not an accident of aesthetics, but a deliberate “intent.” It is a visual metaphor for the modern Indian experience: a struggle to find balance and beauty amidst the heavy machinery of history and social hierarchy.
Takeaway: The Intent of Creation
Prakalpan is one of the most intellectually and ideologically driven exhibitions that 2026 is witnessing. Bhushan Bomble’s art resists decorative consumption; it demands contemplative engagement and ethical reflection. By reclaiming discarded materials and reconfiguring them into architectures of Pais, Bhombale does more than create objects; he constructs a language of repair. Prakalpana is thus not merely an exhibition; it is a necessary proposition for reimagining space, dignity, and belonging in contemporary India.
