This new solo art exhibition in Mumbai celebrates the Ajrakh textile in a unique way

Using natural dye painting, bold brushwork, clever overprinting, and deliberate erasures, master craftsman Khalid Amin Khatri turns cloth into an open canvas

Get ready to look at Ajrakh in a totally different way. Titled "Looking Back Looking Forward" is the first-ever solo art exhibition by master craftsman Khalid Amin Khatri, presented by researcher Satish Reddy.

Khatri's roots are from Sindh, where Ajrakh originated. Over time the craft spread to Kachchh and Barmer, Rajasthan. His family has been living in Kachchh and carrying on the tradition. The showcase at 47A, however, transforms traditional Ajrakh block printing and proves that old skills can tell new stories.

For generations, Ajrakh has meant strict geometry, limited colours, perfect symmetry, and repeating patterns. Walk into the 47A gallery and you will see something completely wild. Khatri spent eight months working alongside his brother Sajid to throw out the rulebook.

"Traditional Ajrakh demands rigid perfection where every line and print stays uniform. I wanted to break that, modifying motifs, playing with tints and shades, and giving the craft a brand-new voice," says Khatri. Using natural dye painting, bold brushwork, clever overprinting, and deliberate erasures, he turns cloth into an open canvas. The results mirror the restless energy, dense architecture, and weathered surfaces of Mumbai itself. Purists did not always know what to make of these experiments. When Khatri first started shaking things up back in 2010, people in the community worried he was losing the thread.

"When I first started doing unique work, everyone thought I was straying too far from the standard," he explains. Breaking those rules takes serious nerves.

Traditional Ajrakh follows a gruelling 16-step process using a very limited natural colour palette. Khalid has kept that exact technical discipline alive. He did not cheat the process. Instead, he has used those exact same sixteen steps to build abstract jungle themes, atmospheric landscapes, and expressive designs that push the medium into fine art territory.

This exhibition matters for more than just the art on the walls. For Khatri, it marks a massive moment for artisan communities back in Kachchh as well.

Khalid Amin Khatri

For too long, makers have stayed behind the scenes while brands take the spotlight. This show steps up to recentre craft by letting a master artisan stand front and centre as the true author of his work.

Catch the show

WHERE: 47-A, Khotachiwadi, Girgaon
TIME: 11 am to 7 pm, till September 13 (closed on Mondays)