Announcement: Menhat Helmy in Mumbai
Two of Menhat Helmy's masterpieces will be on display at the Resonant Histories: India and the Arab world exhibition in Mumbai, India starting Nov. 14, 2025.
The Art of Menhat Helmy is a newsletter and platform supported by its readers and managed solely by the artist’s family. Our goal is to persist in showcasing Helmy’s groundbreaking artwork and to inspire emerging Arab artists.
If you haven’t already, we encourage you to consider becoming a paid subscriber.
More than forty years after her work was last seen in India, Menhat Helmy returns to the country’s art scene through Resonant Histories: India and the Arab World, a groundbreaking new exhibition opening next month.
The exhibition, which opens on Nov. 14, 2025, presents artworks by pioneering modern artists from the collections of Barjeel Art Foundation and the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, staged in dialogue, illuminating cross-cultural encounters that continue to shape artistic and intellectual discourse today.
According to the press release, the exhibition brings together “seminal Arab artists who lived, trained, or exhibited in Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, and Santiniketan. Their engagements — whether through participation in the Triennale-India, training with Indian instructors, or shared association with the ideals of the Non-Aligned Movement — underscore the layered intersections of identity, colonial history, and modernity in their work.”
The exhibition features works by artists from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and India, presenting a varied constellation of voices and perspectives. Helmy’s work will be featured alongside notable contemporaries like Abdul Qader Al Rais, Dia al-Azzawi, Inji Efflatoun, Mariam Abdel-Aleem, Marwan Kassab-Bachi,Mona Hatoum, Rafa Al Nasiri, and Saadi Al-Kaabi, among countless others.
“Resonant Histories aims to serve as a node in the broader research on modern histories in India and the Arab world, offering avenues for further scholarship, and inviting researchers to build on the questions raised by objects on display,” read the press release. “By calling attention to ties in the cultural milieu, the exhibition encourages a deeper understanding of the interconnected socio-political histories and shared experiences that continue to resonate in the art and life of both regions today.”
The last time my grandmother’s work went on display in India was during the Fifth Triennale India in 1982, where she helped curate the Egyptian pavilion at the event.
These were the participating Egyptian artists at the time:
It has been exactly 43 years since Helmy’s work has gone on display in India. If you happen to live near Mumbai, or are planning to visit in the near future, don’t miss this rare opportunity to view some of my grandmother’s masterpieces alongside other great Arab artists.
Exhibition Details
Dates: 14 November 2025 - 15 February 2026
Venue: Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, CSMVS, Mumbai
Curated by: Puja Vaish and Suheyla Takesh
Catalogue: To be released in early 2026
The Art of Menhat Helmy is a newsletter and platform supported by its readers and managed solely by the artist’s family. Our goal is to persist in showcasing Helmy’s groundbreaking artwork and to inspire emerging Arab artists.
If you haven’t already, we encourage you to consider becoming a paid subscriber.