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Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli

Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California

February 27 to March 1, 2026

Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli

Samsara & Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli

February 27 to March 1, 2026
Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California

Samsara & Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli marked the artist’s first solo exhibition in Palo Alto, California, presented by Laasya Art at the Pacific Art League. The exhibition brought together a significant body of recent works, offering an immersive entry into Kohli’s expansive visual and philosophical universe.

Rooted in the idea of samsara—the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth—the exhibition explored transformation as a continuous and unfolding process. Kohli’s works engaged deeply with mythology, memory, and spirituality, where ancient narratives were reimagined as living, evolving forms that resonate within contemporary experience.

Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli
Samsara and Metamorphosis: The Mystical World of Seema Kohli

The exhibition featured paintings created with acrylic, ink, and gold and silver leaf, unfolding as intricate, multi-layered compositions. Through these works, Kohli mapped inner landscapes of consciousness, emotion, and energy, giving form to the intangible. Her visual language, characterised by flowing lines, symbolic motifs, and luminous surfaces, created a sense of movement between the material and the metaphysical.

A central presence across the exhibition was the feminine principle—expressed through forms that embodied Shakti as a generative and transformative force. These figures moved fluidly across imagined terrains, dissolving boundaries between human, natural, and cosmic realms, and suggesting a world rooted in interconnectedness and continuity.

Materiality played a vital role in the works, where layered surfaces and delicate detailing evoked a sense of the sacred. The use of gold and metallic leaf introduced a quiet luminosity, reinforcing ideas of transcendence and inner light that recur throughout Kohli’s practice.

As a whole, Samsara & Metamorphosis unfolded as a contemplative space—one that invited viewers to reflect on cycles of existence, the nature of transformation, and the evolving relationship between the self and the cosmos.

Heartbeat Of The Universe

Heartbeat Of The Universe

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2502

Untitled, 2502

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2501

Untitled, 2501

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2482

Untitled, 2482

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2494

Untitled, 2494

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2489

Untitled, 2489

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

The Golden Womb Series, 2477

The Golden Womb Series, 2477

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Krishna Krishna Rasa

Krishna Krishna Rasa

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2500

Untitled, 2500

Untitld, 2407

Untitld, 2407

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

The Golden Womb Series, 2488

The Golden Womb Series, 2488

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2471

Untitled, 2471

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Untitled, 2469

Untitled, 2469

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Rising Of Kundalini

Rising Of Kundalini

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Lakshmi

Lakshmi

Canvas, Acrylic on Canvas

Related Performances

The Word for World is Home

The performance was presented at Kolkata Creativity Center Concept, script, and direction: Seema Kohli In The Word for World is Home Seema Kohli reclaims a new universalism, this...

A Circle of Our Own

The performance was presented in 2019 at the amphitheatre in Sunder Nursery, New Delhi A Circle of Our Own is an experiential narrative performance by Seema Kohli that...

The Fourth Moon

Performed at National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru as part of her ongoing Exhibition 'Kaal Netra - Sacred Matrices' Concept, script, and direction: Seema KohliPhotography & Videography: Sakthi...

In Silence the Secrets Speak

Performed at the Royal Opera House, Mumbai Video is available on demand Concept, Script & Direction: Seema KohliPerformance: Seema Kohli and Lokesh Bhardwaj In Silence the Secrets Speak...

Making of ‘Cut from the Same Cloth’

Concept & Direction: Seema KohliCinematography Edit & Sound: Sakthi Doss A 12 minute capturing Seema Kohli’s involvement and the whole process of the making of the artworks at...

Ouroborus

Grid of 84 archival prints of self-portraits, of 10x10inch. The cycle of life revolves around birth, death and the eventual liberation from mortality. All forms of life follow...

Swayamsiddha: Myth, Mind and Movement Swayamsiddha

Double Channel Video Installation Video is available on demand Concept, Script & Direction: Seema KohliPerformance: Seema Kohli and HimaniPhotography: Avdesh Singh, Narendra Rai and Svabhu KohliStill Photography: Anshika...

Raks-e-Shams: Unending Dance of Light | 2014

Single Channel Installation Performance & Concept: Seema KohliCinematography: Marlène Ila Popovic, Sakthi BhagatEditing: Marlene Ila PopovicSound Design: Sahil Vasudeva “We see death as a full stop. But it...

Enter Stillness | 2022
Enter Stillness | 2022 | 2022 9 minutes 39 seconds

Concept, Script & Direction: Seema Kohli Photography & Videography: Sakthi Bhagat Editor: Tariq Vasudeva Music: Sahil Vasudeva Animation: Gaurav Singh Bedi “Seema Kohli’s Enter Stillness is a fable...

Parikrima | 2013
Parikrima | 2013 19 minutes, 19 seconds

Single Channel Film, 16:9 Aspect Ratio Concept, Script, Direction & Art: Seema Kohli Camera: Marlene Popovic Editors: Seema Kohli and Marlene Popovi Music: Sahil Vasudeva Vocals: Bindhu Malini...

EXHIBITIONS
  • ALL
  • ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
  • ARCHIVAL PRINT
  • DRAWING
  • OIL ON CANVAS
  • PAINTING ON WOOD
  • ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS / DRAWINGS
  • ETCHING
  • LITHOGRAPHS
  • PAINTINGS
  • SERIGRAPHS
  • WOODCUT
  • ZINC PLATE INTAGLIO PRINT
  • BRONZE
  • GLASS-REINFORCED POLYMER
  • PAINTINGS
  • SANDSTONE
  • TERRACOTTA
  • WOODEN
  • CLOTH
  • EMBROIDERY
  • ACRYLIC ON WOOD
  • ALL
  • ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
  • ARCHIVAL PRINT
  • DRAWING
  • OIL ON CANVAS
  • PAINTING ON WOOD
  • ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS / DRAWINGS
  • ETCHING
  • LITHOGRAPHS
  • PAINTINGS
  • SERIGRAPHS
  • WOODCUT
  • ZINC PLATE INTAGLIO PRINT
  • BRONZE
  • GLASS-REINFORCED POLYMER
  • PAINTINGS
  • SANDSTONE
  • TERRACOTTA
  • WOODEN
  • CLOTH
  • EMBROIDERY
  • ACRYLIC ON WOOD
  • ALL
  • ART FAIR/ BIENNALES
  • CANVAS
Bodies of Work
  • ALL
  • HERBS OF INHERITANCE
  • KHULA AASMAN
  • MOON MYTHS
  • SAPTA MATRIKA
  • SHAKTI
  • TANTRA
  • THE GOLDEN WOMB SERIES
  • TREE OF LIFE
  • YOGINIS
  • ALL
  • ARTICLES
  • EXHIBITIONS
  • PAINTINGS
  • PERFORMANCES