India Art Fair 2026: A Textile-Led View
As February approaches, India comes sharply into focus. From 5–8 February 2026, India Art Fair returns to New Delhi for its 17th edition, transforming the NSIC Exhibition Grounds into a dense, multi-layered landscape of modern and contemporary art from across South Asia. For Selvedge readers, the fair offers not only a sweeping view of the region’s artistic currents, but a particularly rich encounter with textiles — both explicitly foregrounded and subtly threaded throughout.
Established in 2008, India Art Fair has grown into the leading platform for discovering South Asian art, convening galleries, artists, foundations, institutions and designers from across the region and beyond. This year’s edition is the largest to date, with a record 133 exhibitors, including 94 galleries, alongside an expanded design section, outdoor commissions and a city-wide parallel programme that activates Delhi’s wider cultural landscape.
From 'Towards Light' by Karishma Swali and the Chanakya School of Craft at India Art Fair. Photo: Chanakya School of Craft
Textiles appear in concentrated form within several key presentations. The Chanakya School of Craft, under the direction of Karishma Swali, continues its long-standing commitment to reimagining textile knowledge through contemporary practice. With over four decades rooted in embroidery and women-led education, Chanakya’s work occupies a vital space where craft becomes a form of cultural inquiry rather than heritage display. Delhi Crafts Council similarly foregrounds collaboration, presenting projects that sustain artisan livelihoods while adapting material vocabularies for present-day contexts.
Rashid Rana, 'The One and Many'. Kashan Rug, Circa 1920, Iran. Silk, 196 knots. Photo: Aspura Gallery
Aspura, a gallery dedicated to collectible carpets, brings works that sit at the intersection of architecture, design and material culture. Highlights include the Kamala House Carpet designed by BV Doshi in 1959 for his Ahmedabad home, now reissued in collaboration with his estate, alongside a silk carpet by Rashid Rana that translates the artist’s photographic language into woven form. Together, they position the carpet as both functional object and architectural thinking.
Vasantha Yogananthan, What a Princess Should Wear, 2013.
Photo: Jhaveri Contemporary.
Elsewhere, MASH — a digital platform exploring intersections of art, craft, design and fashion — presents Threaded Visions: Contemporary Embroidery for a Sustainable Future, curated by Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala. The project highlights embroidery as a living, forward-facing practice, engaging sustainability and experimentation rather than nostalgia. Jhaveri Contemporary also offers an important lens on material-led practice, with a programme grounded in scholarship and South Asian art histories, including the legacy of artists such as Mrinalini Mukherjee, whose engagement with fibre and form continues to resonate.
Morii Embroidered artwork. Photo: Morii
Within the Platform section, textiles emerge as living traditions rather than static forms. Porgai Artisans’ Association, a women-led collective from Tamil Nadu’s Sittilingi Valley, presents sculptural embroidered works celebrating Lambadi identity, ecology and community life, while Morii Design brings hand-embroidered textiles developed in close collaboration with artisans across Bihar, Kutch and Bengal.
Jain Chhods at the Sarita Handa Archive showcase, India Art Fair 2025. Image: Sarita Handa Archive.
Adding further depth to the fair’s textile narrative, India Art Fair continues its collaboration with the Sarita Handa Archive, Textile Heritage Partner for 2026. Drawing from a collection of more than 5,000 historic textiles and artefacts, the Archive’s showcase explores cloth as a vehicle for storytelling. From expansive Ramayana panoramas and playful Krishna Leela scenes to ritual hangings and public banners, the works trace how myths, histories and scenes from public life travelled on fabric through hand painting, block printing and early mechanised techniques.
Beyond these specific presentations, textiles appear across the fair — woven into sculpture, installation, performance and design. With the Selvedge India Textile Tour fast approaching, our gaze is already turning toward India, and India Art Fair 2026 offers a timely lens through which to engage with the country’s evolving textile landscape.
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Further Information:
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Image Credits:
Lead: Monika Correa, Original Sin (detail), Warp: dyed cotton yarn; weft: dyed handspun wool. Photo: Jhaveri Contemporary
All further images as credited in photo captions.