Emami Art is pleased to present নিত্য - নূতন: The New in the Everyday, an exhibition of recent works by Soma Das, opening on 8 August 2026. Soma Das draws inspiration from her day-to-day existence and the scenes she witnessed growing up, for her works feature ordinary women and men leading unglamourous lives yet carving out spaces for joy, community, and rest. As she holds up a mirror to the mundane absurdities of daily life, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour shows up, and the strata of society that we often tend to take for granted reveals its many joyful selves. At the same time, inanimate things in the house and in the hands of Das’s protagonists come alive, sharing centre stage with the people.
Although Das borrows the technique and approach from the tradition of Indian miniature paintings, but her nayaks and nayikas, often portrayed against floral backgrounds and domestic environments, demonstrate intention and agency – they are equals in the work they do together. With her keen observation skills and enduring empathy for her female protagonists, Das seeks out novelty in the everyday. In the vernacular language of the middle-class, she traverses the intricacies of gendered labour and leisure.
Soma Das is inspired by a multitude of influences, including her late father’s livelihood as a carpenter; a liberating experience of living away from her familiar space at an artist residency; and her mother’s habit of collecting bits and pieces from magazines, among other things. This has shaped her recent explorations in newer mediums alongside paintings in gouache – she now works with metal, wood, and terracotta. Such a range of artworks record a deeply relatable humanity, fulfilling a need for connection in the artist, her community, and the viewer.
