Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ)
Installation view of the Avatar: Forms of Vishnu exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring works by Desmond Lazaro and Cambodian Vishnu statue from the early 800s, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter In the contemporary imagination, the word “avatar” may conjure James Cameron’s blue Na’vi people.
But Cameron was partly inspired by the avatars (or incarnations) of the the Hindu deity Vishnu, who sent avatars to earth to preserve universal order. For over 15 centuries, Vishnu has been seen as a sustainer and a guardian of dharma – order, morality and righteousness – who has access to ten or more human and animal avatars.
Mostly, Vishnu is depicted by artists with blue skin, marking his separation from humanity. He evokes the colour of the cosmos and, as his avatar Krishna, the deep blue of brooding monsoonal cloud. India, Rajasthan, Mewar The worship of Vishnu c1730, opaque watercolour on paper, 25.7 × 21 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, bequest of Mr J Kitto 1986, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Avatar: Forms of Vishnu at the Art Gallery of New South Wales draws on these deep cultural roots. The gallery presents 200 artworks spanning 1,500 years, from international and Australian collections. Many objects, notably early sculpture from Cambodia, have never before travelled from their home countries.
The highly crafted and carved objects open intriguing mythological narratives, exploring Vishnu’s long importance in Hindu cultures and to contemporary Australia. A prescient exhibition The exhibition takes audiences on a deep dive into the sumptuous colour, craft, tradition and artistry inspired by and honouring the avatars of this important figure.
Contemporary works add magic to the historic, conveying the continuum of tradition into current practice. Avatar comes from the Sanskrit word avatāra, meaning “descent”. At the press preview, co-curator Chaitanya Sambrani called Vishnu a holistic presence, “a being that is everywhere, everything, and in everyone; an omnipresent force with different personas”.
Installation view of the Avatar: Forms of Vishnu exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring Bangladesh, Dhaka, Shialdi, Pala dynasty (700s – early 1100s), Vishnu with attendants, early 1100s, National Gallery of Australia, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.
For Sambrani, it is important to understand this presence exists “against the strictures of organised religion. We may have our own personal experience of Vishnu beyond the limitations of the self.” Three years in the making, the exhibition feels prescient.
Amid political division, ecological instability and debates around identity, Vishnu’s avatars – manifesting to create order from disorder – feel unexpectedly contemporary. Enduring storytelling The endurance of these stories is beautifully expressed. There is the juxtaposition of artworks old and new, in diverse media – textiles, carving, gold, embroidery, paint, sculpture, bronze, papercuts and watercolour.
One work of carved sandstone from Cambodia in the early 800s depicts a four-armed lord holding a discus, conch, club and globe. Its simplicity – a naturalistic figure decorated only with a cylindrical headpiece and skirt cloth (sampot) – alludes to Vishnu’s status with the Khmer kings.
Behind this sculpture hang two large contemporary paintings by Desmond Lazaro. Desmond Lazaro, Samudra Manthana, Churning of the Ocean of Milk, 2026, natural pigments and gold on birch board, 200 × 200 cm, courtesy of the artist © Desmond Lazaro.
Lazaro describes the foundational Hindu story in The Churning of the Ocean of Milk (2026), paired with his Mount Mandara (2026).
The first, a circular form painted in colours from hand-ground ochres, describes the coming together of gods and demons to churn the ocean to retrieve the nectar of immortality, releasing both poison and divine treasure.
A soapstone carving of Lakshmi Narasimha, Vishnu’s man-lion avatar, from Odisha, India in the 1200s, is framed by Threshold (2026), a contemporary installation crafted in cotton and silk by Sumakshi Singh.
Installation view of Sumakshi Singh’s work Threshold with 13th-century Lakshmi Narasimha sculpture in the Avatar: Forms of Vishnu exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.
Elements highlighted for contemporary audiences include the feminist consciousness in these stories. The energy of the shakti from their female consorts is crucial to Vishnu’s avatars to complete their tasks. Human transformation The final theme of the exhibition is titled Vishnu’s Cosmos.
The vibrant Kaavad shrine (2015) by Satyanarayan Suthar draws cars and planes together with gods and goddesses in a traditional kaavad (portable folding storyboard). An intriguing series of printed oleographs (prints made to resemble paintings) from the art publisher Rami Varma Press (1894–1972) are sumptuously decorated with embroidery, cloth and sequins to honour the deities.
Ravi Varma Press, India 1894–1972, Lakshmi, designed 1894, printed early 1900s, chromolithograph, 35.8 × 25 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Dr Jim Masselos 2011, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales. A sandstone carving of Vajimukha (Hayagriva or Kalkin) from the late 500s or early 600s guards this final gallery.
The figure is bare-chested, with a simple skirt falling below the knee, and horsehead sitting naturalistically on human shoulders. The head may refer to Vishu’s final avatar Kalki, prophesied to appear during a conflict-riddled time, promising a new age of truth and virtue.
This is the first Australian exhibition devoted to Vishnu, and the largest to focus on South and Southeast Asian art for 20 years. In this, Avatar acknowledges an evolving cultural landscape and the growing proportion of Australians with a South and Southeast Asian background.
In this exhibition, mythology is positioned as an adaptive visual language through which artists explore identity, resilience, morality, devotion and the potential in human transformation.
Avatar: Forms of Vishnu is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, until October 5.
Louise Martin-Chew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/06/25/in-an-exhibition-tracing-1500-years-of-art-vishnus-avatars-offer-tonic-for-our-times/