Emami Art presents Purvai: printmaking in Eastern India - Pedagogy to practice, a group exhibition curated by artist, academician, curator, researcher, and writer Dr Paula Sengupta that traces the curve of contemporary printmaking across Eastern India from the pedagogical space to the realm of practice – featuring 43 artists from the Northeastern states, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.

With Bengal as the pivotal point from which modern/contemporary printmaking in the region is traced, the exhibition examines the institutional and artistic nurturing of the medium from the late-20th century onwards. Purvai maps the role of art institutions in fostering printmaking in Eastern India, where infrastructural needs have kept the medium closely tied to pedagogy. By bringing together both regional practitioners and artists connected through practice, PURVAI underscores Eastern India’s vibrant, experimental, and evolving printmaking ecosystem—one that has indelibly shaped India’s artistic modernity and will continue to contribute to global contemporary art.

This is a collateral exhibition to the 3rd Print Biennale India organised by Lalit Kala Akademi.

Participating artists: Aadya Kumari, Ajit Seal, Amiya Ranjan Ojha, Ananya Dalal, Anupam Chakraborty, Arpan Mukherjee, Atanu Bakshi, Chandan Bez Baruah, Cross Cat Collective, Debnath Basu, Deepanwita Das, Jayanta Naskar, Jayeeta Chatterjee, Khokan Giri, Moutushi Chakraborty, Nalinakshya Talukdar, Nilanjan Das, Nutan Kishor Nishad, Parag Roy, Pathik Sahoo, Paula Sengupta, Pinaki Barua, Pradip Das, Prarthana Hazra, Priyanka Lodh, Rabi Narayan Gupta, Rahul Sarkar, Raja Boro, Rajarshi Sengupta, Raj Kumar Mazinder, Sambaran Das, Sangita Maity, Sarika Goswami, Sheshadev Sagria, Soumyabrata Kundu, Srabani Sarkar, Srikanta Paul, Subrat Kumar Behera, Sujay Mukherjee, Sunandini Banerjee, Suranjan Basu, Sweety Chakma, Temsüyanger Longkumer.