Bhubaneswar: Deputy Chief Minister of Odisha Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on Friday inaugurated a solo exhibition of works by renowned artist Jagannath Panda and curated by Sibdas Sengupta at Lalit Kala Akademi here. The exhibition will conclude on February 27.
In his keynote address, Singh Deo commended the initiative for bridging the gap between Odisha’s traditional roots and the global contemporary art discourse.
The exhibition titled ‘The Long Now of Us’ features a range of works that draw deeply from cultural, traditional, and historical fabric of Odisha, revealing how Panda’s practice remains rooted in lived landscapes and inherited visual vocabularies. Organised by EO Odisha, the exhibition marks Panda’s first solo exhibition in his hometown of Bhubaneswar and brings together a significant body of works that trace the evolution of his artistic language while foregrounding recent conceptual and material inquiries that have emerged within his practice.
This apart, a series of programmes including panel discussions, curatorial walkthroughs will accompany the show. On the occasion, a book titled as ‘Rupa Katha Ra Rupakar’ authored by Ramakanta Samantaray was also released. A documentary film on the artist will be screened within the exhibition space, providing further insight into his practice and working process. Among others, historian Dr. Pradosh Kumar Mishra was also present.
Panda is a leading contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, and mixed media. Panda’s work critically engages with themes of ecology, urbanization, mythology, and socio-political transformation, examining the complex entanglements between natural environments, built structures, and human intervention. Central to Panda’s practice is the method of collaging—both materially and conceptually—through which he assembles fragments of everyday materials, architectural references, and symbolic imagery.
Sengupta is an artist, curator, and researcher whose practice engages with questions of representation, material politics, and socio-historical inquiry within contemporary visual culture. Working across painting, installation, moving image, text, and curatorial frameworks, Sengupta’s research-driven approach foregrounds critical methodologies that interrogate how histories, identities, and power structures are constructed and mediated through visual forms.