Having lived in Bombay’s* Cuffe Parade at the same time as the late M.F.Husain, I felt a certain neighbourhood “kinship” with the eminent artist who went into self-exile from India and spent the last years of his life as a Qatari citizen. So, the immersive exhibition in Doha’s Qatar Museums Gallery in Katara, “The Rooted Nomad” was very much on my To Do list on my recent visit to Qatar.
(*Mumbai was known as Bombay when I lived there.)
And, in the interest of full disclosure, despite casually mentioning my Cuffe Parade connection, I never actually met the great man, though I did see him once in the street.
Right, now to the immersive exhibition which was interesting, beautifully done, but…could you sense a “but” was coming?…I think it could’ve done with some voice overs explaining what was happening. There was virtually no commentary at all, just two brief extracts of Husain speaking, with rather poor-quality audio. But no recounting of his life, or explaining what we were seeing on the very beautiful projections.
There were, of course, information panels outside, before going in to the show, but
(a) who reads every single information panel at an exhibition? Be honest!
(b) in our case, we’d just started reading when one of the sweet staff on duty told us that the presentation was starting, so we obviously went through to enjoy the projection, leaving the information unread.
I enjoyed the exhibition, because I knew a bit about the artist and the controversy which prompted him to leave India.
But for someone who doesn’t know much about the history of the artist, nor the political and religious climate in India that hastened his departure, the show might not have been as educational as it could’ve been.
My daughter who knew nothing about Husain, but whom I quickly briefed while we watched, said afterwards that she had enjoyed it – “It was entertaining but sadly not really educational.”
My advice?
Go. But be sure to read all the info before watching the presentation. Had we but known, I’d have opted to skip that show, read up, and watch the next one.
The show is on until 7 February 2026, and entry is free.
No-one there knew that I blog and write reviews, by the way.
