“Colour in its myriads of mutations is one single element that binds seemingly unrelated objects into one whole.”

For over three decades, Kumari Nahappan’s artistic practice has traversed the intersections of colour, materiality, and cosmology, mapping a terrain where form and energy coalesce. Chromatic Currents offers a synesthetic journey through her oeuvre, framing colour not as a static attribute but as a force that shapes and transforms meaning across time and space. Across the mediums and materials she works with, her artworks articulate an evolving language of material and myth.

Colour is not merely pigment in Nahappan’s universe; it is rhythm, vibration, and emotion. It is a bridge between the sacred and the everyday, a medium through which the artist channels the ineffable forces of the cosmos. While deeply rooted in Hindu cosmology-where celestial bodies dictate the hues of the Navagraha and chromatic frequencies chart the energies of the universe-Nahappan’s use of colour resists rigid codification. It oscillates between cultural specificity and universal resonance, inviting viewers into a meditation on perception, memory, and transcendence.

Nahappan activates the sensorial dimensions of art, where texture, weight, and scent become integral to the experience. At its core, Chromatic Currents challenges us to reconsider colour not as a surface quality but as a structuring principle of experience, one that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers. Whether as a ritual gesture, a cosmic signal, or a field of pure energy, Nahappan’s universe reminds us that colour is not simply seen-it is felt, remembered, and lived.

John Z.W. Tung, Exhibition Curator