Arpita Singh’s Art: A Tapestry of Memory, Chaos, and Resilience

Arpita Singh’s first UK exhibition presents a vivid and intricate portrayal of India’s past, blending personal memories with historical and political themes. Born in 1937, her art reflects the social upheavals she witnessed but in an emotional, layered manner rather than direct political statements. Her paintings are visually dense, stacking images rather than following traditional compositions, creating a dreamlike effect. Common motifs include flowers, soldiers, bureaucrats, and women—who symbolize resilience and caregiving. Her 1990s watercolors beautifully capture femininity and motherhood.

Earlier works stand out with their structured compositions, while her later pieces become more abstract and collage-like, making them harder to connect with. Recurring themes include war, displacement, and mythology. The exhibition can feel overwhelming due to its deep cultural references, but Singh invites viewers to interpret freely. Her work intertwines personal and political memory, forming a beautifully chaotic vision. Ultimately, the show captures life’s turbulence through a unique artistic lens.

Arpita Singh’s Art: A Tapestry of Memory, Chaos, and Resilience

Arpita Singh’s debut UK exhibition takes visitors on a vivid journey through India’s history, interwoven with personal memories and cultural reflections. Born in 1937, Singh captures the turbulence of her times—political crises, wars, and societal shifts—yet her work is not overtly political. Instead, it invites viewers into a world where emotion, symbolism, and everyday moments collide, creating a rich tapestry of stories and memories.

Her paintings burst with color and intricate detail, rejecting traditional Western artistic styles. Rather than following orderly compositions, she layers images like scenes from a vivid dream. Her work blends the structured narrative of comic strips with the folk-art aesthetic, infused with a touch of Marc Chagall’s surreal whimsy. In one painting, a woman peacefully tends her garden while a mother nurses her child nearby. Above them, jets streak across the sky, and cars race along winding roads. These overlapping scenes capture the simultaneous chaos and beauty of life. Perspectives twist and bend—buildings tilt, figures float—yet the overall effect feels warm and alive, celebrating resilience amid disorder.

Recurring symbols echo throughout her work: blooming flowers, speeding cars, stern soldiers, and busy bureaucrats. However, women remain the focal point. Singh portrays them as anchors of strength—nurturing families, tending homes, or simply existing as calm presences in a world of upheaval. This theme is especially prominent in her 1990s watercolors, where mothers cradle their children with expressions that convey both tenderness and quiet resilience. These pieces feel deeply personal, honoring the unsung heroism of everyday women.

The exhibition shines brightest in her earlier works, where structure and emotion are in perfect balance. Her more recent pieces, however, adopt a collage-like abstraction, filled with fragmented images and scattered text that reference war, migration, and mythology. While bold and thought-provoking, these works lack the emotional immediacy of her earlier paintings. The deliberate chaos of her newer style, while conceptually strong, may create distance rather than draw viewers in.

For those unfamiliar with India’s history, the exhibition can feel like stepping into a whirlwind of symbols. Political references, cultural motifs, and elements of folklore are woven throughout, yet not all are explicitly explained. However, Singh encourages viewers to engage with her work intuitively—allowing colors, shapes, and emotions to resonate without overanalyzing. The experience is akin to flipping through a personal diary, where moments of joy, grief, and memory blend into a kaleidoscope of life. Understanding every detail is not necessary to feel the painting’s emotional depth.

Ultimately, the exhibition is a tribute to layered storytelling. Personal memories intertwine with national history, and quiet domestic scenes coexist with global conflicts. Through it all, Singh finds beauty in life’s messiness. Her paintings do not offer neat conclusions but instead invite reflection on complexity—on the interplay of loss and love, chaos and care. Whether through the delicate brushstrokes of a mother’s embrace or the jarring contrast of war imagery, her work reminds us that history is not just a series of facts and dates—it is lived, felt, and remembered in fragments that linger long after the paint has dried.

In the end, Singh’s exhibition is not just about India’s past. It is a universal meditation on how we carry our stories—how individual lives intersect with larger historical forces, and how art has the power to hold it all together, even when the world feels fractured.