This Indian creative has just opened a new gallery in the UK that uses art to heal

At the heart of Without Shape Without Form is an exploration of the mind, and through its exhibitions, tours and gatherings, the UK-based arts platform aims to bring communities together to question, contemplate and pause. Its newest exhibition, ‘Reflections – Sangat and the Self’ (on until May 2, 2026), housed in the organisation’s newly renovated 7,500sqft gallery, is described by Kailey as “an invitation to slow down, to explore and reflect on the internal journey, and to recognise that the mind suffers from taking in an unbelievable amount of thoughts all the time.”

Front to back: ‘Sitting With Your Virtues and Vices’ by Arjun Singh Assa (2024). ‘A Place in Punjab’ (digital print) by Origit Sen.

Anchoring the show are two South Asian artists in dialogue. Jasmir Creed’s paintings interrogate individuality and group dynamics, portraying figures in transit or crowded spaces that speak to the dual identity many in the diaspora negotiate. In contrast, Birmingham-based Roo Dhissou has created a sculptural installation of manjis—South Asian daybeds—arranged like blank canvases, on which visitors are invited to sit and gather. “The manji might be a blank canvas,” Kailey notes, “but we as humans, when we gather around it, we become the paint, the colour that makes them come to life.”