Have you ever thought about where our boundaries begin and end, how much of our personal space we open up to others, or how limited resources force us into a global sharing? Victoria Miro in London is hosting a fascinating solo exhibition by NS Harsha, one of the most visionary and prolific names in contemporary Indian art, titled “Camel and the tent times.” Open until July 31, 2026, the exhibition invites viewers into a multi-layered universe where traditional narratives and cosmic fantasies intersect, accompanied by a fresh essay penned by art critic Grant Watson.
The exhibition takes its name from the well-known Eastern fable: the story of a camel that asks its owner for permission to stick first its nose, then its head into the tent on a cold night, ultimately kicking the owner out. According to writer Grant Watson, this fable is a perfect modern allegory for understanding the limited resources in today’s world and the inevitable boundary transgressions that come with making room for others.
However, in NS Harsha’s paintings, this transgression ceases to be a dark threat; instead, it is treated as a playful, humorous, inevitable, and reversible visual rebellion that disrupts the established order. The artist chooses to play with the rules, as if reshuffling the deck of cards.
A Wreath of Humanity: “Camel and the tent times”
Blending miniature-like precision in figurative details with vast abstract backgrounds and universal themes, one of Harsha’s most important masterpieces in the exhibition is the eponymous work, “Camel and the tent times” (2025).
In this monumental composition, dozens of human figures—cooking, washing clothes, kneading dough, sowing seeds, giving birth, or simply watching the surroundings quietly—intertwine to form a veritable wreath of humanity. Adorned with fresh fruits, vegetables, and leaves, these people glisten like offerings at a harvest festival. In Watson’s interpretation, the figures within this wreath of daily life, though entangled, display an attitude of complete indifference to the power games swirling around them that we might imagine.
Cosmic Rifts and Collective Dreams
Another striking piece in the exhibition, “’That’ which dissolves labour” (2024), resembles a cosmic rift torn in time-space. Harsha depicts Southern laborers wearing glowing neon work vests, sitting side by side and enjoying a traditional South Indian feast on banana leaves. This scene—a complete picture of labor, rest, and joy—is split down the middle by a vertical vortex line. Like a cosmic rift opened in time-space, this line whispers of the infinite universe and glistening stars behind it.
“A zephyr over a collective dream” (2023), a continuation of the artist’s famous lamp grid series, connects the viewer with an invisible wind within a collective dream. In this work, an invisible wind blowing from behind the canvas or directly from the viewer’s gaze flickers the flames of rows of oil lamps. Rather than being a religious symbol, the lamps represent pure energy; though the wind bends and twists them, it can never extinguish their light.
Standing out with its abstract composition completely stripped of human figures, “Digging for quarks drama at upper deck” (2024) questions the fleeting memory of capital. This work symbolizes the temporary communities, cities, and regions that rapidly mushroom around mining and resource extraction sites. When capital migrates from there to exploit another geography and benefit from another populace, the vast void left behind echoes in the melancholy of the canvas.
NO-26 Note
NS Harsha’s art is a pure stroke of genius when it comes to merging the local—the colors, rituals, and people of South Indian—with global cosmology. Whether creating paddy fields from water stains dripped onto the canvas (“Journey through water marks” (2024) or transforming a simple brushstroke into a massive scaffold where agricultural workers perch (“Visiting Cy Twombly” (2024), this exhibition expands the boundaries of contemporary painting from a profoundly naive yet striking place.
Stepping into this colorful, cosmic, and philosophical world of NS Harsha in the second gallery, right after touring the politically heavy Shahzia Sikander exhibition in Victoria Miro’s first gallery, will be the most balanced and satisfying art reward you can give yourself in London this summer. Don’t miss it!
