Among the selected artworks was Vaibhav Tanna’s An Ordinary Dream, a tapestry created as an exploration of time and perception. “It is inspired by a dream of a starry night sky reflecting into a flowing river—where stillness and movement coexist, bending reality,” says Tanna, 31.
He rejected the piece, a deep blue patch with thousands of stitched stars, because it felt too safe, he says. “At that time I wanted to push beyond what I already knew,” he says.
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Alisha Aranha rejected her piece titled How We Sleep because she felt it would make no difference to the world. The 36-year-old emerging potter and ceramicist’s work contrasts comfort and compromise. “It explores the deeply personal yet universal act of sleep. Through sculpture and photography, it examines how security, privilege, gender, and mental state shape the position in which we sleep. The series invites viewers to reflect on their own sense of exhaustion, safety, and resilience,” she writes in her concept note.
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Akshita Sinha submitter her daily practical journal, in which she sketches regularly to stay in touch with her craft. “The sketchbook represents a space where my thoughts could exist freely without the pressure of being perfect,” says Sinha, who often revisits rejected work to help her refine ideas. “The sketchbook acts as a blueprint for future projects, allowing me to see what works, learn from mistakes, and build upon them without fear.”
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Visual artist Vaidehi Sadiwala, 25, submitted work that has faced rejection, from audiences and mainstream platforms, for their unapologetic themes of nudity, political satire and critiques of religion.
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