De la Terre à l’Âme
(From the Soil to the Soul)
24–30 June 2026 | Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française de Delhi
As Alliance Française de Delhi celebrates 70 years of cultural dialogue, De la Terre à l’Âme (From the Soil to the Soul) invites audiences on a week-long journey through the landscapes, crafts, food traditions, and community practices that continue to shape our relationship with the world around us.
Bringing together artistic, ecological, and community-led experiences, the exhibition explores how everyday traditions embody sustainability, resilience, and collective memory. Rooted in Indian knowledge systems while opening conversations with French ideas of craftsmanship, heritage, and cultural transmission, De la Terre à l’Âme reveals unexpected connections between the two cultures and encourages visitors to rediscover the beauty of making, preserving, and sharing.
Exhibition Details
Dates: 24–30 June 2026
Opening: Wednesday, 24 June 2026 | 5:00 PM
Venue: Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française de Delhi
Featured Installations
Bachpan Ki Dukaan
Bachpan Ki Dukaan, that neighbourhood corner shop, was where desire first learned to attach itself to objects. Amidst crowded shelves, branded packets, and fluorescent displays, certain products emerged from their surroundings, singular, and intensely wanted. The installation isolates these fragments from the visual density of the shop environment, allowing them to reappear in the way memory often preserves them: enlarged, suspended, and emotionally disproportionate to the object itself.
Oran – Sacred Groves of the Thar Desert
The Thar Desert is locally known as Marwar — the land of death. Surviving here is not for the weak. Facing relentless drought, communities made a choice. They set aside land in the name of a local deity, bound it with shared rules, and called it an Oran — a sacred grove. Food may be foraged. Cattle may graze. No tree may be cut. Plants are the gatekeepers of life here. Spreading their arms out to feed people and cattle, offering shelter to birds. The land stores every seed that falls from the trees and protects it with warmth till the rain comes and the Oran blooms. In a land that gives little, the Oran returns everything. From soil to soul.
Bitoda Art – Living Geometry of Rural Haryana
Discover how everyday rural architecture transforms utility into living geometric art through generations of women’s craftsmanship.
Remembering Hat Pakha
An immersive tribute to the humble hand fan, celebrating sustainable traditions and the enduring wisdom of handmade living.
Workshops & Participatory Experiences
Beyond the installations, the exhibition comes alive through a vibrant programme of workshops, conversations, and community gatherings.
Learn the art of pickle making from scratch, join a community potluck celebrating culture through home-cooked food, and participate in Tell Me What You Eat—an interactive experience that invites visitors to reflect on how everyday food choices shape identity, belonging, aspiration, and memory. Through personal stories and collective reflection, participants contribute to a growing living archive of food memories.
Pickle Making Workshop: A hands-on pickle-making workshop by TARI
26 June | 4 PM
During the session, participants will be guided step-by-step in creating three unique pickles, each prepared by hand and rooted in time-honoured preservation practices.
The experience also includes The Memory Postcard, where participants will share a cherished food memory, a family recipe, a grandmother’s kitchen tip, or a scent that reminds them of home. These contributions will become part of Kul’s growing community archive of food stories.
Registration fees: Rs 999
Link to register: https://forms.gle/A9aVtxUiWbuxEkMJ9
A Community Potluck Table
Join us as we celebrate 70 years of Alliance Française de Delhi with an exhibition that reminds us that the path to a more sustainable future often begins by rediscovering the wisdom of the past.