London-based artist Sayan Chanda attributes his skill and development as a textile artist to the rich cultural experiences—ripe with ceremonial pomp and pageantry—of his childhood in Kolkata. 

He played with idols in the shrine of Manasa (the goddess of snakes) located behind his home, and had a collection of clay idols built from visits to local fairs. “I still refer to them to this day, and they’ve inspired my recent experiments with ceramics,” he says. Fittingly, he’s in Mumbai with this textile and ceramic exhibition titled A Smear and The Crown.