A new chapter in the city’s cultural landscape begins as Maison D’Art Banjara celebrates the grand inauguration of its gallery space with Shiva Blues, a powerful solo exhibition by acclaimed French fine art photographer Anne Garde. This momentous opening, held on Wednesday, 3 December 2025, 7 pm is made possible through the dynamic partnership of Maison D’Art Banjara and Alliance Française Hyderabad, whose shared vision brings this international showcase to the city.
A Milestone: The Inauguration of Maison D’Art Banjara
Maison D’Art, Banjara opens a new gallery space at the Ashiana-Imli Sarai complex in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Conceived as an open, welcoming home for visual art across multiple media, the gallery focuses on work that invites cultural discovery and explores how we live and relate to one another, across and within cultures, so that viewers leave with a clearer, more meaningful sense of the world around them.
The inaugural exhibition features work by a French artist long associated with the founding family, reflecting the gallery’s commitment to cross-cultural dialogue. Maison D’Art, Banjara aims to renew Banjara Hills’ cultural life through regular exhibitions, talks, workshops and events for the community and neighbourhood.
About the Exhibition: Shiva Blues
At the heart of the inauguration is Shiva Blues, Anne Garde’s visually arresting exploration of North India through an analog lens. Captured with her Hasselblad camera and transformed through a rare chemical inversion process, Garde’s photographs reveal human skin in ethereal blue tones—echoing Shiva Neelkanta, the Blue-Throated God who drank poison to save the cosmos.
Interweaving mythology and lived experience, Garde’s portraits elevate everyday individuals into timeless, contemplative figures. Her surreal chromatic world reflects a delicate balance between destruction and preservation, myth and modernity, reality and dream.
Maud Miquau, Director of Alliance Française Hyderabad stated that “Les photographies d’Anne Garde donnent une vision de l’Inde à laquelle le spectateur ne s’attend pas : le bleu inonde les corps présents, rappelant inévitablement le dieu Shiva et, à travers lui, l’étincelle divine présente en nous et tout autour.
Anne Garde’s photographs offer an unexpected vision of India: Blue floods the bodies, inevitably recalling Lord Shiva and, through him, the divine spark within us and all around us.”
About the Artist: Anne Garde
A graduate of the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre, Anne Garde is a photographer, traveller, and storyteller whose analogue practice probes the boundary between seen and unseen. A recipient of the Villa Medici Hors les Murs grant for Salon Indien, she continues to explore cultural intersections with sensitivity and curiosity.
Her images—described by critic Michel Nuridsany as bearing “a somnambulistic truth”—invite viewers into a space of reflection and wonder.
Alliance Française Hyderabad: A Cultural Bridge
The presentation of Shiva Blues is made possible through the collaborative support of Alliance Française Hyderabad, whose mission of fostering Indo-French cultural dialogue is central to this project. Their partnership brings Anne Garde’s work to Hyderabad, connecting the city to global artistic conversations and enriching its cultural fabric.
Event Details
Inauguration & Exhibition Opening:
Date: Wednesday, 3 December 2025, 7 pm
On View: 3 Feb, 2026
Venue: Maison D’Art Banjara
Ashiana Imli Sarai, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad
Presented in association with: Alliance Française Hyderabad
