India, May 21 -- As Delhi sweltered under relentless summer heat, the softly lit rooms of CCA Gallery at Bikaner House offered a welcome pause. At the VIP preview of Silent Stories, Sri Lankan artist Shanaka Kulathunga drew viewers into a world rooted in everyday life, seen through a more reflective lens.

Spread across over 40 works in oils, acrylics and charcoal, Kulathunga's debut solo in India moves between portraiture, rural landscapes and imagined worlds. A girl stands with her goats under an otherworldly sky; a dancer dissolves into peacocks; a lone figure holds the moon in an open palm. Talking about his style, Kulathunga said, "I am a philosophical and psychological being. There is some mental exercise that I have gone through. Y...