The solo show brings together all of the artist’s memories from the past and juxtaposes them with the possibilities of the future. Curated by Aakshat Sinha,  the exhibition captures architecture from her travels, be it her ancestral home in Bihar or the mystic homes of Ladakh and Kashmir or the rustic palaces from Rajasthan or the holy city Benares or from the countryside of Europe, that expresses and follows as memories that may trigger or retrigger in the future.

A textile designer by profession, Smita has been painting and exhibiting her works for more than 20 years. Her ancestral home in Ara (Bihar), is imprinted in her memory, as is the image of her grandfather bent over the watercolour paintings he used to work on day and night, which inspired her to become an artist. An avid traveller, each trip has helped her create a style of architectural abstraction where the landscapes or cityscapes she paints capture not just the architecture but also the ambience of the location. Through her acrylic paintings, she tells stories that she heard while there in person. The vibrant colours reflect the space’s life and vivacity without depicting human or animal figures in the compositions.

The exhibition explores her happiness from these memories of her travels. The combination of these memories is what gets reflected in the cityscapes that she paints. Any viewer can guess the suggested location of the imagery from the type of architecture she presents but she goes beyond the realistic architectural representation and prepares an assortment of memories hanging in gaps, hidden in shadows and floating with the clouds. She uses printing blocks, stencils and spatula impasto to create textures and motifs.