We live under a vast blue sky that on most days, feels too small to accommodate dissent. But in New Delhi-based Aban Raza’s ongoing exhibition, titled There is something tremendous about the blue sky, at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, we find portraits of men and women whose very existence is an act of rebellion, as Albert Camus famously said. Farmers protesting at the Tikri border, participants at the MKSS Yatra, Rajasthan, hundreds of women huddled together at Shaheen Bagh, a compartment packed with travellers on a train, Jharkhand — her oil-on-canvas works make us look up at the vast blue sky in awe, despite it all. This Thursday, P Friedhelm Mennekes SJ, who was pastor of the Jesuit Church St Peter’s in Köln, Germany, will uncover new layers in Aban’s works during a walkthrough at the Ballard Estate gallery.

Shaheen Bagh, Delhi 2022, oil on canvas