A LEGACY REIMAGINED: CCA RETURNS TO DELHI’S ART SCENE ACROSS THREE GENERATIONS

In a city steeped in art and memory, few names echo as deeply as CCA – Centre for Culture & Art. Once a cornerstone of Delhi’s artistic heartbeat in the 1990s, the legendary gallery has been lovingly revived by Imaan Varma, the third generation of a family that has quietly shaped the Indian art landscape for over three decades.

Originally founded by Ashok Varma, CCA was more than a gallery, it was a movement. Nestled in Lutyens’ Delhi, the gallery played host to artists like, M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, J. Swaminathan,and Manjit Bawa, among others. A space for radicals and romantics alike, CCA became synonymous with progressive thought and boundary-pushing creativity in Indian modern art.

Now, in 2025, the gallery has found new life in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, reimagined as an invitation-only gallery and cultural centre with a sharper focus on the future. While paying homage to its luminous past, the new CCA also seeks to nurture emerging voices, what the team refers to as India’s future masters.

“I have been immersed in the world of art my entire life,” shares Imaan Varma, grandson of Ashok Varma and the force behind this revival. “We were among India’s first and finest galleries. It’s an honour to continue my family’s legacy, not just by celebrating the past, but by investing in the next generation.”

The first exhibition under Imaan’s curatorship, titled “Sacred Signs”, opens this August with works by celebrated tribal artists including Jangarh Singh Shyam, Jodhaiya Bai Baiga, Baua Devi, and Santosh Kumar Das. The show reflects a quiet reverence for symbolism, memory, and mythology, a theme deeply resonant with CCA’s ethos.

But CCA is not just about exhibitions. In collaboration with students from The Ardee School, the gallery is pioneering a fresh educational format where young learners engage directly with curatorial practices, exhibition design, and the broader workings of the art ecosystem. The idea? To empower them not just as artists, but as thinkers, producers, and future custodians of Indian art.

Adding gravitas to this vision is the appointment of noted writer, curator, and cultural critic Ina Puri as the gallery’s official advisor. A longtime friend of the Varma family and one of the original voices from CCA’s earlier days, her presence marks a poetic full circle.

“The story that began in the early 90s, fuelled by the vision of Ashok Varma, is now entering a new chapter with Imaan,” says Puri. “CCA had a formidable presence in the past. With this thoughtful reimagining, I believe it will be just as relevant in the present, and the future.”

As CCA prepares for its official public revival later this year, its current quiet programming is already sparking interest across Delhi’s art and culture circuit. From private previews to educational engagements, CCA is gently reclaiming its space, not just as a gallery, but as a cultural ecosystem.

In a world saturated by speed and spectacle, the return of CCA reminds us of something timeless: that true art, like legacy which isn’t hurried. It’s built, slowly and lovingly, across generations.