
Exhibition preview·New Delhi
KNMA's 'Pata Dekhabo?' traces Bengal and Jharkhand scroll-painting traditions
By Neha Kirpal (6 September 2026): the fourth exhibition in KNMA's Art Passage series presents 46 reproductions from the KNMA Collection alongside films, recorded songs and in-situ paintings, on the New Delhi skybridge until 16 November.
Curated by KNMA's Department of Indian Classical and Folk and Tribal Arts, the show brings two scroll-painting traditions into conversation: one tracing epics, myths and evolving socio-political realities, another exploring cycles of life, death and continuity. Sections move from vertical multi-scene scrolls — including an 18th-century Gazi Scroll from the British Museum — to 19th-century single-format paintings, the modernist vernacular of Jamini Roy and Ramkinkar Baij, Jadupatua paintings of Santhal life, and Bat-tala woodcuts, closing with contemporary Patua responses to events including the tsunami and 9/11. Artists Bapi and Tagar Chitrakar created in-situ scroll murals depicting the marriages of birds and fish.


