Desi Art Mag #2
166 x 234 mm, 168 pages
India
Biannual
First published in 2025
Founder and editor-in-chief: Shivansh Wadhwa
Design: Horia Sidiqi
‘Building bridges between curiosity and confidence in the art world’
Desi Art Mag is a new title from India, platforming ‘South Asian art and artists in ways that feels like conversations with old friends.’ Championing accessibility in the arts, its educational and engaging features provide an entry point for anyone with an interest in the field.
Themed ‘Gatekeepers and Open Doors’, this sophomore edition features an uplifting gradient yellow and green colour palette and brings together a diverse array of voices spanning ‘foundations and private museums, activist collectives, culturally rooted organisations, curators working across diasporas, and artists reflecting on the texture of daily life with art’. Inside, readers can learn about the challenges and opportunities of running a contemporary art museum in Sri Lanka, where ‘no precedent exists’; explore the personal stories woven into the decorative textiles of Bhasha Chakrabarti, and the colourful robotic universe of Kum Kum Fernando; take a historical tour of South Asian art in Britain with gallerist Charles Moore; and meet five South Asian organisations—from the Raza Foundation in New Delhi to the Public Arts Trust of India in Rajasthan—striving to open doors and offer an optimistic alternative to the existing gallery model in the region.