Step behind the scenes with the team of professionals at Eka as they share glimpses of their work in crafting exhibitions and museum experiences across India.
When you walk into the cool stillness of a museum gallery, a riveting display presents a piece of history that one has never seen before. These captivating displays are the result of hard work by a team of professionals of diverse disciplines – curators, conservators, designers, lighting specialists and more.
Museum custodians have to prioritise the display of artefacts, aiming for a maximum ‘wow’ but keeping in mind the special care of the often-ancient, fragile objects. Their storytelling has to be with a purpose and so, must overcome museum display challenges, especially problems like a dearth of specialist case designers, and lighting solution providers.
Take a peek in behind the scenes through these photos of what makes museums and exhibitions tick with the team at Eka, who work in projects across India.
Arranging jewellery requires an understanding of form and function and contributes to its display and presentation. Head ornaments arranged on a slanted surface here follow a pre-determined curatorial schema.
Hidden Treasures : Jewelry from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dubai, 2019
At the National Museum, New Delhi, light had to be cut out completely to display rare and historical textiles. Notice how pools of light gently illuminate the vibrant hues of textiles making them seem jewel-like in the darkness.
Pra-kashi :Silk, Gold & Silver from the City of Light, National Museum, New Delhi, 2019.
For Indira Gandhi’s centenary celebration an exhibition was hosted. The lawns of her historic residence, now a landmark memorial, became the venue. Making use of the dappled sunlight in the Delhi winter months, an exhibition was conceptualised using the outdoors. Historic images from her life were carefully selected from the archives and digitally made ready to replicate at the appropriate sizes. Notice how the tonality of the images has been calibrated and the red gives a pop of colour to balance the black and white images.
Indira: A Life of Courage, IGMT, New Delhi 2017
At the Rezwan Razack Museum of Indian Paper Money, security was a major consideration, as was also the challenge of displaying thousands of banknotes and paper ephemera. With low lighting levels as a requirement, the designers chose display cases with inbuilt lighting whilst the wall cases were lit by ceiling lights. Patterns from the bank notes were replicated as part of the floor pattern to amplify details of otherwise smaller museum objects.
Rezwan Razack Museum of Indian Paper Money, Bengaluru, 2020
For Weftscapes, an exhibition at the multi disciplinary Serendipity Arts festival a fresh approach to the creation and making of Jamdani fabrics was explored. Designers helped audiences understand ‘jamdani’ weaving, choice of raw materials, colour, patterns, designs and the end product—a finished garment. Acrylic panels help understand the warp and weft of an important textile. The blue indicates the indigo dyed thread.
Weftscapes, Serendipity Festival for the Arts, Goa, 2019
For a museum celebrating the life of educationist and Manipuri dancer-scholar, Dr Savitaben Mehta, her original costume going back a few decades, was carefully restored and mounted on a custom built mannequin. The curatorial team worked with dance scholars in Manipur to get the perfect nuances.
Dr Savitadidi N. Mehta Museum and Vishwa Gurjari Library, Porbandar, 2022
A pair of Radha and Krishna dance costumes of the Manipuri Nat Sankirtan dance form on display at the museum. It was a challenge in bringing together this pair of dance costumes as both costumes belonged to a female artist. The peacock feathers on Krishna’s cap, for example, were carefully restored to their full glory.
For a museum celebrating the life of educationist and Manipuri dancer-scholar, Dr Savitaben Mehta, her original costume going back a few decades, was carefully restored and mounted on a custom built mannequin. The curatorial team worked with dance scholars in Manipur to get the perfect nuances.
Dr Savitadidi N. Mehta Museum and Vishwa Gurjari Library, Porbandar, 2022
Dr Savitadidi N. Mehta Museum and Vishwa Gurjari Library, Porbandar, 2022
Neutral and culturally sensitive busts help to showcase jewellery
Design Crossroads: The Jewellery Of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain National Museum, Bahrain, 2019.
For this exhibition of costumes from Saudi Arabia, the idea was to show both scale and beauty while being sensitive to the local dictates of culture. Notice the use of rich colours and synchronous display of local costume.
Art Of Heritage, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2018
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Originally published in Museum Mosaic 2024, published May 2025.
Part of our annual review. Descriptions reflect the publication’s reporting period.
