Vikidge at 17:48, 21 February 2026

2026-02-21T17:48:27Z

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{{Short description|Indian art curator and critic}}
{{Orphan|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2025}}
[[File:Oindrilla Maity Surai.jpg|thumb|Oindrilla Maity Surai at the venue of Beyond the Edge, Kolkata, in January 2024.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Resistance through art on banks of canal excavated by William Tolly in late 18th century |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/resistance-through-art-on-banks-of-canal-excavated-by-william-tolly-in-late-18th-century/cid/1993168 |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref>]]

'''Oindrilla Maity Surai''' (born 1978)<ref name=":0" /> is an Indian independent [[curator]], art critic, and pedagogue based in [[Kolkata]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2010-08-28 |title=Khoj:IFA Curatorial Program |url=https://khojstudios.org/programme/ifa-curatorial-program/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> She has curated exhibitions beyond the paradigms of the commercial gallery.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Resistance through art on banks of canal excavated by William Tolly in late 18th century |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/resistance-through-art-on-banks-of-canal-excavated-by-william-tolly-in-late-18th-century/cid/1993168 |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Her major contributions lie in her converting the exhibition spaces as sites of resistances in the [[Post-COVID-19 condition|post-Covid 19]] era, following the country's political conditions and experimenting with the anatomy of what may be termed as the biennale mode (at a rudimentary stage) of exhibition making in the city's public sphere.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=রায় |first=অমিত |title=কৃষক আন্দোলন থেকে পরিযায়ী শ্রমিকের যন্ত্রণা, বেহালা 'আর্ট ফেস্ট' যেন প্রতিবাদের ক্যানভাস |url=https://www.anandabazar.com/entertainment/from-the-farmers-movement-to-the-life-pains-of-migrant-workers-in-lockdown-the-behala-art-fest-is-like-an-artistic-revolution-dgtl/cid/1265246 |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=www.anandabazar.com |language=bn}}</ref> She has also participated in several [[Community art|community- based art]] projects as an artist.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oindrilla Maity |url=https://khojstudios.org/person/oindrilla-maity/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Khoj |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Work ==

=== Curation ===
Oindrilla Maity Surai has curated ''Erasures and Resistances'' (January, 2024) for the first edition of Beyond the Edge, Kolkata, the first ever [[public art]] exhibition proposed on a [[biennale]] model in the city in terms of production of meaning and knowledge, orbiting around research and experimentation.<ref name=":1" /> The exhibition featuring artists Gigi Scaria, [[Ram Rahman]], [[Pushpamala N.|Pushpamala N]], Inder Salim Madhuja Mukherjee, Sharmila Samant Anupam Saikia and Saikat Surai among others also included an artists' collective, Panjeri Artists' Union and two plays, Tagore's ''Tasher Desh'' staged by Panihati Patrak (an environment activist group) and ''Atha Hidimba Katha'' by Birati Samuho (an LGBTQ community), throwing light on a constitutive pluralism that pulsated with a polyphonic tone.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=নতুন করে ভাবতে শেখাবে শিল্প, প্রথমবার অনন্য আর্ট পারফরম্যান্সের সাক্ষী হবে কলকাতা |url=https://www.sangbadpratidin.in/kolkata/beyond-the-edge-unique-art-performance-will-be-organized-in-kolkata/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=sangbadpratidin |language=en-US}}</ref>'' <ref name="thewire.in">{{Cite web |title=A Field of White Poppies: Counter-Memorials and Companionship at 'Erasures and Resistances', Kolkata |url=https://thewire.in/the-arts/erasures-and-resistances-a-field-of-white-poppies |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=The Wire}}</ref> The exhibition, which aimed at 're-introducing larger and pressing political and aesthetic concerns relevant to the country today'<ref name="thewire.in"/> turned out into a ''<nowiki>''</nowiki>''...stage for a theatre of resistance.<nowiki>''</nowiki><ref name=":1" /> Subsequently, it grew into a cultural space where exchanges among artists, scholars and students took place to address issues of the day''.'' The exhibition also hoped to create a disruption of settled practices and generate a new level of spectatorship, away from the populist art practices in the city. Apart from displaying a wide range of exhibits including installations, drawings, plays, performances, and videos, the project is also working on a chapter of archiving oral histories in the locality, spearheaded by [[Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Resistance through art on banks of canal excavated by William Tolly in late 18th century |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/resistance-through-art-on-banks-of-canal-excavated-by-william-tolly-in-late-18th-century/cid/1993168 |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref> ''How Tomorrow Might Be''<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=A look into the past, present and 'how tomorrow might be' |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/arts/a-look-into-the-past-present-and-how-tomorrow-might-be-at-the-second-edition-of-the-behala-art-fest-with-the-telegraph/cid/1813050 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.telegraphindia.com |language=en}}</ref>(2021) another exhibition curated by Surai for the second edition of the Behala Art Fest was conceptualized in the context of "the new citizenship thrust, [[Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir|the abrogation of the special status of Kashmir]], [[Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020|the plight of migrant workers during the lockdown and the contentious farm laws]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Behala street art festival: A heap of shoes leaves behind a haunting footprint |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/calcutta/behala-street-art-festival-a-heap-of-shoes-leaves-behind-a-haunting-footprint/cid/1806089 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.telegraphindia.com |language=en}}</ref> She curated ''[https://khojstudios.org/programme/ifa-curatorial-program/#:~:text=Tracing%20a%20Human%20Trail%3A%20Metaphors,and%20later%20moved%20to%20Delhi. Tracing a Human Trail: Metaphors of the Frontiers]'' at [[KHOJ (arts organization)|Khoj]], New Delhi (2010–'11),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Curatorship Program 2010 |url=https://khojstudios.org/programme/curatorship-program-2010/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Khoj |language=en-US}}</ref> for the first curatorial residency programme in the country,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=India Foundation for the Arts ~ Quarterly Newsletter |url=https://indiaifa.org/pdf/newsletter/edition18/index.html |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=indiaifa.org |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105175044/https://indiaifa.org/pdf/newsletter/edition18/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> juried by [[Geeta Kapur]] and [[Anita Dube]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Curatorship Program 2010 |url=https://khojstudios.org/programme/curatorship-program-2010/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Khoj |language=en-US}}</ref> Her commercial shows include ''Whose History? Which Stories?'' ((2012)'', Shrine Empire, New Delhi)'' which explores how "The natural human urge to connect with each other through myths, helps in identifying the patterns of thought. It is also an attempt to trace the patterns, tendencies and future moorings of visual art through its current traits,".<ref name="Singh">{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Ayesha |date=2012-12-21 |title=When art bridges every distance |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/2012/Dec/23/when-art-bridges-every-distance-436265.html |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> ''Facets of a People'' was curated for [https://map.sahapedia.org/article/OED-Gallery/3483 Gallery OED, Kochi], (2009) orbiting around the portrayal of the vast expanse of a collective psyche featured the work of [[Rajan Krishnan]], T. M.Azis among others.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-05-15 |title=Portraits of many artists |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2009/Jun/19/portraits-of-many-artists-60127.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-06-15 |title=Portraits that open 'windows to the soul' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/ |access-date=2024-02-05 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> Though her earliest curatorial ventures took place in the commercial galleries, Surai has always shown a preponderance of curating exhibitions in the [[public sphere]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=K |first=Surekha |date=6 May 2008 |title=Through a curator's eyes |work=Expresso, Kochi, The New Indian Express |pages=1}}</ref>

=== Writings ===
Oindrilla Maity Surai writes in Bangla and English. ''Bangla Boier Drishtijagat O Vidyasagarer Bhavna'', an essay on [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]], was published by [[Ananda Publishers]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Maity Surai |first=Oindrilla |title= জন্মদ্বিশতবর্ষে বিদ্যাসাগর |date=September 2020 |series=বাংলা বইয়ের দৃষ্টিজগত ও বিদ্যাসাগর |publisher=Ananda Publishers |isbn=978-81-946903-8-2 |editor-last=Bhowmik |editor-first=Dwijendra |location=Kolkata, India |publication-date=September 2020 |pages=164–192 |language=bn |trans-title=Janmadwishatabarshe Vidyasagar}}</ref>[https://www.anandapub.in/book-details/3952] Her essay, ''[https://partitionstudiesquarterly.org/article/socio-spatial-dialectics-and-the-right-to-the-city/ Socio-Spatial Dialectics and the Right to the City]'' on the practices of Bengali visual artists with a history of the Partition has been brought out by the [https://partitionstudiesquarterly.org/ Partition Studies Quarterly]. Among her translational work, ''An Answer to Today's Crisis: A Leninist View'' by [[Slavoj Žižek]] in Bangla was published by ''Swaraantar''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maity Surai |first=Oindrilla |date=July 2022 |title=Ajker Sankater Sankat O Ekti Leninio Samadhan |journal=Swaraantar |volume=Monsoon |issue=2}}</ref> Very recently, [[Sangbad Pratidin]] has featured one of her essays, [https://robbar.in/mixed-bag/can-practice-of-art-in-durgapuja-be-called-public-art/ ''দুর্গাপুজোর শিল্প-সমারোহ আদৌ কি পাবলিক-আর্ট''?] on the making of art in the realm of Durga Puja on its digital portal, Robbar.in. Two of her essays, [https://robbar.in/mini-series/annada-munshi-commercial-art-and-post-colonial-modernity/ বিজ্ঞাপন শিল্প, উত্তর আধুনিকতা ও অন্নদার 'মুন্সীয়ানা'] and [https://robbar.in/book-review/rediscovering-history-through-miss-indubalas-scrapbook/ ''ইন্দুবালার খেরোর খাতা''] featuring in the same digital portal, center around decolonization through modern Indian advertisements and decolnization through epistemic shift, respectively. She has also written on art and culture for children.<ref name=":0" /> Maity is a regular contributor to Take on Art magazine.[https://takeonartmagazine.com/authors/oindrilla-maity/]

=== Documentary Film ===
[[commons:File:নোনা_জলের_দিনলিপি_-_Nona_Joler_Dinolipi.webm|Nona Joler Dinolipi]] (2025) which archives the beliefs, practices and interviews of the Bakkhali coastal poets' community, Samudra Janala, is Maity's first ever documentary film, co-directed with Saikat Surai.

== Education ==
Surai graduated in Art History from the [[Rabindra Bharati University]], Kolkata.<ref name=":0" /> She has a doctoral degree in Culture Studies from the Department of Culture Studies, [[Visva-Bharati University|Visva-Bharati]], Santiniketan (2022). She has graduated from the [[Gwangju Biennale]] International Curatorial Course (2012)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contributors |url=https://partitionstudiesquarterly.org/contributors/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=Partition Studies |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Awards and grants ==
Surai is the first recipient of the [https://www.praf.in/awards Art ScribesAward] (2011) from India for her writings on visual arts<ref name="Singh"/> and was subsequently invited by the [https://koreankulture.com/en/item/gwangju-museum-of-art/ Gwangju Metropolitan City Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea] for the first research residency under their [http://www.koreanartistproject.com/eng_event.art?method=boardView&brd_reg_no=242 Asian Curators' Exchange Program].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Korean Artist Project |url=http://www.koreanartistproject.com/eng_event.art?method=boardView&brd_reg_no=242 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.koreanartistproject.com}}</ref> She was also a participant of the first curatorial residency at Khoj International Artists Association, New Delhi, supported by the India Foundation for the Arts, Bengaluru (2010).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-08-28 |title=Course Work |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/course-work/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

== References ==

<references />

== External links ==
* [https://bartamanpatrika.com/detailNews.php?cID=12&nID=515211&P=5&fbclid=IwAR1RdVA6vCjA8_V1souLbNbq7PqdxB1Es8BfILpSGf0SiS1Wn3_0Ik6-82U]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v;]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYZS3vvRJg]
* [https://www.anandabazar.com/video/art-makers-and-historians-of-kolkata-organize-art-show-on-the-model-of-biennale-dgtl/cid/1488691]
* [https://partitionstudiesquarterly.org/article/socio-spatial-dialectics-and-the-right-to-the-city/]
* [https://www.anandabazar.com/culture/book-reviews/review-of-a-book-written-on-ishwar-chandra-vidyasagar-by-arun-bandyopadhyay-1.1207735 Review. Janmadwishatabarshe Vidyasagar]

{{Authority control}}

{{Improve categories|date=January 2024}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surai, Oindrilla Maity}}
[[Category:Indian women curators]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian art critics]]
[[Category:Public art]]
[[Category:Kolkata]]
[[Category:1978 births]]

Oindrilla Maity Surai - Revision history

Vikidge at 17:48, 21 February 2026