Often overlooked: The Barbican presents 100 artistic responses to India's turbulent times

Most exhibitions on India either focus on the partition of 1947, the Progressives group of the 1950s or jump straight to the 1990s, when Indian artists arrive onto the global stage. The Emergency and the years after are pivotal: disillusionment sets in after a period of post-independence excitement.

The larger social ideals of the nation-building project get sidelined for a coalition-based politics that gives greater voice to individual groups. Meanwhile, the blind spots of India's constitution-failures to fully account for issues of social welfare, caste and gender-become increasingly apparent.

The exhibition will tell the story of a fast evolving and fracturing nation through more than 100 works by around 30 artists, including Jitish Kallat, Nalini Malani and Sheela Gowda.

The exhibition, laid out chronologically, will broach four main themes based on pressing social concerns of the period that continue to be relevant today.

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