The December issue brings together a range of features comprising both art as well as architecture.

The cover of December edition features the work of French artist JR (Paris, 1983) comprising large murals that aggrandise the common man and engage with his often overlooked reality, not from a sense of responsibility inherent in ‘art activism’ but from a position of dignity and respect for others. JR’s artistic engagement reconfigures the trappings of our reality awash with images through new images calling for dialogue and transformation leading to freedom of expression and art.

In ‘Indian Aesthetics’, Anuradha Shankar explores the temples of the Yoginis. Circular and open to the skies, these temples are few and far between. While most of them are currently in Central India, extending to coastal Odisha in the east, and Rajasthan in the west, based on sculptural and literary evidence, it is clear that they must have, at one point, thrived across the country.

Architecturally, Suprio Bhattacharjee looks at  SPACES designed by MOAD, a cultural centre along Chennai’s famous Elliot’s Beach, which is home to the archives of two of India’s most important post-independence artists — dancer Chandralekha and painter, designer and sculptor Dashrath Patel.

The issue also highlights two recently concluded exhibitions — pieces earth left behind, featuring the work of insallation artist Sudarshan Shetty, and Opening Lines: Ebrahim Alkazi, Works 1948-1971 curated by Ranjit Hoskote.

In the ‘Poetry’ section — curated by Ranjit Hoskote — we present a set of poems by the distinguished Anglophone Indian poet, literary reviewer and anthologist Manohar Shetty. This selection of Shetty’s poems offers readers the first glimpse of his forthcoming collection, Borderlines, to be published in 2020 by the independent poetry imprint, Copper Coin.