The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is using two ambitious exhibitions to show how Indian cultural traditions survive not as static relics, but as living systems of knowledge, performance and shared memory. The shows, Grip, Hold, Pin and A Moving Line: 1500 Years of Indian Visual Storytelling, are on view until November and together offer a wide-ranging look at how communities preserve meaning through the body, the image and the story.
Curated by Aayati Sengupta, Grip, Hold, Pin turns the spotlight on Indian wrestling, tracing its evolution from ritual and symbolism to modern sport and contemporary visual culture. The exhibition brings together historical objects and contemporary photography to argue that wrestling has always been more than a contest of strength. As Sengupta told YourStory, "Long before cameras documented wrestlers inside the akhara, artists were already recording the rituals, discipline and symbolism that surrounded wrestling."
That framing gives the exhibition a broader cultural charge. Early Ragamala paintings and textile labels are used to show that wrestling was represented not only as physical exertion, but as an expression of community, identity and labour. The exhibition also highlights the social worlds that have shaped the sport, from the earth of the pit and ritual objects to the training equipment and inherited practices that define the akhara. In this reading, wrestling becomes a form of embodied knowledge passed down through generations, rooted in place and memory as much as in competition.
The photographic works on display deepen that argument. Images by Jyoti Bhatt, Raghu Rai, TS Satyan, Indrajit Khambe and Prarthna Singh examine discipline, vulnerability and endurance across different eras and contexts. Contemporary practitioners are also part of the conversation, alongside references to recent political controversies that have surrounded the sport. Khambe, whose work appears in the exhibition, said, "For me, wrestling has never been just about competition. It is a way of life shaped by discipline, community and generations of shared tradition."
Singh's photographs bring another dimension to the show, particularly through her focus on women wrestlers. "I hope that the photographs which are a part of the exhibition invite viewers to see strength not only in competition, but also in everyday acts of courage," she said. That emphasis broadens the meaning of athletic power, placing resilience, aspiration and social change alongside the spectacle of victory.
If Grip, Hold, Pin examines the body as a site of cultural inheritance, A Moving Line: 1500 Years of Indian Visual Storytelling explores the image as a vessel for narrative continuity. Curated by graphic novelist Amruta Patil, the exhibition brings together more than 250 works that trace how India has told stories across centuries and media. The show places living storytelling traditions such as kaavad and pattachitra in conversation with modern comics, graphic novels and web comics, creating a lineage that stretches from devotional and folk forms to mass-market and digital culture.
Kaavad, a portable wooden shrine-like display from Rajasthan, is one of the exhibition's most evocative forms. Its painted panels unfold scene by scene, turning the act of storytelling into a participatory exchange between narrator, object and audience. Pattachitra, meanwhile, extends the tradition of painted narrative through intricate visual sequencing and mythic imagery. By placing these forms alongside publishers and characters such as Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle and The Phantom, the exhibition shows how Indian visual storytelling has continually adapted to new audiences and technologies without losing its core impulse to narrate, instruct and connect.
Together, the two exhibitions position MAP as a space where art history, popular culture and lived tradition meet. One show follows the wrestler's body through ritual, labour and modern representation; the other follows the story's line across centuries of image-making. Both suggest that culture is sustained not by preservation alone, but by active participation, reinterpretation and transmission. In Bengaluru, MAP is inviting visitors to see that the knowledge embedded in sport and storytelling remains urgently contemporary.