An Ecological Interrogation Stretching from Mumbai to London: “Project 88: Treeish”

When Mumbai-based contemporary art gallery Project 88 arrives as a guest on Cork Street, one of London’s most prestigious art avenues, it causes a subtle rupture in the northern hemisphere’s deeply ingrained and dominant art discourse. The gallery has settled into Frieze’s space at No.9 Cork Street with a group exhibition titled “Treeish”, which brings together the works of six artists. Running until July 4, this selection moves away from anthropocentric perspectives to approach nature with an entirely different logic of a living organism.

Brought together by curator Prajna Desai, artists Claire Baker, Goutam Ghosh, Mahesh Baliga, Neha Choksi, Tejal Shah, and Trupti Patel unite around a fundamental question: Can a tree be an independent subject in its own right, beyond the patronizing protective roles that humanity assigns to it? The exhibition’s title is based on a scientific concept borrowed from the work of British dendrologist Harriet Rix. “Treeish” expresses a life logic entirely unique to the tree, encompassing its instantaneous reactions to the environment, its cellular memory, and the hidden communication networks it establishes with others through its roots.

This tree-like mode of existence manifests itself across highly diverse materials within the gallery space. We encounter a wide variety of mediums, ranging from layered paintings on aluminum and fingerprints left on glass surfaces to ceramic forms and the chemical transformations of materials. For instance, Mahesh Baliga’s work Tailpot Palm (2026), produced using casein paint on linen, stands before us not as a flat botanical anatomy of a palm tree, but as a living portrait reflecting its direct character and spirit.

Treeish is not an isolated project standing on its own, either; it progresses in a deep-rooted dialogue with the exhibition Never Was a Shade, which is concurrently running at Project 88’s physical venue in Mumbai. The exact same question echoes simultaneously across two different continents and cities. Thanks to this exhibition, No.9 Cork Street—which hosts Frieze’s institutional and sterile structure—is introduced to an alternative, vernacular, and organic voice within its own boundaries. It is an unmissable experience for those who wish to stop viewing nature merely as an object to be saved, transformed, or exploited, and instead choose to listen to its own independent language.

Exhibition Details:

• Presenting Gallery: Project 88 (Mumbai)
• Exhibition Title: Treeish
• Curator: Prajna Desai
• Venue: No.9 Cork Street (Frieze), London
• Dates: June – July 4, 2026
• Participating Artists: Claire Baker, Goutam Ghosh, Mahesh Baliga, Neha Choksi, Tejal Shah, Trupti Patel.