Gargi Chandola, Villa Swagatam laureate, in residence at Fondation Thalie

Fondation Thalie is delighted to welcome Indian artist Gargi Chandola in residence in Arles in March 2027, as part of the fourth edition of Villa Swagatam, the residency programme led by the Institut français in India, of which she is a laureate.

Based in New Delhi, Gargi Chandola reinvents the tradition of Indian miniature painting. Trained under a master artisan, she has mastered the ancestral techniques of wasli paper-making, natural pigment preparation and gilding, which she puts to the service of a resolutely contemporary visual language. Through narratives infused with humour, she develops a feminist and committed practice that interrogates the relationship between humans and the natural world. Animals, and monkeys in particular, occupy a central place in her work, becoming the protagonists of allegories that question power dynamics, coexistence with wildlife, changing landscapes and ecological concerns.

At Fondation Thalie, the artist will develop a new body of work exploring miniature painting as a contemporary language, within an intercultural dialogue between the Camargue and India. This residency will be an opportunity to explore the resonances between these two territories, their landscapes, their heritage and their narratives, through a reflection on nature and the forms of coexistence between living beings.

Fondation Thalie warmly thanks Villa Swagatam and the Institut français in India for their trust. By fostering exchange between France and India, Villa Swagatam has become a major platform for intercultural dialogue and artistic mobility, offering artists a privileged space for research, creation and encounters.

Gargi Chandola's residency will be supported by Eugénie Lefebvre, founder of the Ateliers de la Madeleine.

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Gargi Chandola
Villa Swagatam