FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Anoushka Mirchandani: My Body Was a River Once
January 16–August 23, 2026 | Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) San José
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) San José is proud to present My Body Was a River Once, the debut institutional exhibition of India-born, San Francisco-based artist Anoushka Mirchandani, curated by Zoë Latzer. On view from January 16 through August 23, 2026, the exhibition comprises all new works, and engages the senses—sight, sound, and smell—to explore memory and matrilineage as they relate to migration and the role of place in shaping identity and agency.
For nearly ten years, Mirchandani has developed a distinct visual language: translucent female forms in moments of repose and introspection, primarily within domestic space and leaving one with the sensation of observing moments from the artist’s own life. In My Body Was a River Once, these figures are liberated from man-built environments—merging with waterfalls, flora, stones, and tree bark in fluid metamorphoses that blur the boundaries between body and land.
Mirchandani draws inspiration from the Apsaras—celestial beings from South Asian mythology whose name translates to “one who moves flowingly in the waters.” Within the exhibition, these mythic figures become vessels for intergenerational movement, carrying ancestral stories across terrains both real and imagined.
“Anoushka’s practice evokes wonder and a belief in magic while exploring migration and transformation,” says Zoë Latzer, Curator and Director of Public Programs at the ICA San José. “Her works on canvas and silk invite viewers into layered journeys of lineage and possibility.”
Expanding her practice beyond painting, Mirchandani introduces new materials and forms, including diaphanous silks and sculpted wooden thorns. Together, these works create a multisensory, living archive that traces the artist’s ongoing exploration of belonging, and enacting myth as an evolving practice.
“In this exhibition, I explore family magic and the healing of intergenerational wounds shaped by displacement,” says Mirchandani. “I am investigating the inherited scarcity of space and the return to nature as a form of expansion; primordial sites of birth, belonging, and evolution.”
About the Artist
Anoushka Mirchandani (b.1988, Pune, India) is a San Francisco-based painter and filmmaker. Mirchandani’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Jonathan Carver Moore, San Francisco (2025); Yossi Milo, New York (2024); Galerie Isa, Mumbai (2023); UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles (2023); Rhodes Contemporary Arts, London (2021); and elsewhere. Group exhibitions include Exhibitionism, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles (2025); Visible/Invisible: Representations of Women in Art through the MAP Collection, Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bangalore (2024); Color Coded, curated by Dexter Wimberly, Bode, Berlin (2023); and Winner Takes All, curated by Amoako Boafo and Larry Ossei-Mensah, Marianne Boesky, New York (2022); among others. In 2025, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, screened Mirchandani’s Landscapes of Longing (2024) as part of their New Directors/New Films series. The artist’s work resides in numerous international public and private collections, including The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; The Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore; and Northwestern University, Chicago.
Support
Sponsorship from Nicki and Pete Moffat; Miller Coblentz Family; Adam O’Donnell and Lauren Braun; additional support from the City of San José’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, Applied Materials, the Lipman Family Foundation, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, and SVCreates. In-kind support provided by Benjamin Moore paints.
For press inquiries, images, or interviews:
Makeda Barr-Brown | Programs and Marketing Associate | makeda@sjica.org
Image 1: Photography by Paul Rho
Image 2: Photography by Paul Rho
Headshot: Photography by Kari Orvik