Ladies Compartment by Method Art Gallery is an exhibition of six Indian women artists, hosted in collaboration with Gallery Melike Bilir in Hamburg. This marks Method’s debut exhibition in Germany, offering a powerful and nuanced meditation on gender, resilience, and the negotiation of space through contemporary artistic practices.
Featuring works by Anushree Fadnavis, Avani Rai, Darshika Singh, Keerthana Kunnath, Krithika Sriram, and Shaheen Peer, the exhibition draws its title from the gender-segregated carriages of Mumbai’s local trains—introduced in 1907 to offer women a measure of safety and autonomy in an otherwise male-dominated public sphere. Over a century later, these spaces remain a potent symbol of paradox: at once refuge and restriction, sanctuary and segregation. They embody the complex ways in which public space is mediated through gender, offering protection while also reinforcing boundaries.
Ladies Compartment expands this metaphor into a broader lens through which to examine how women inhabit, resist, and reimagine the many compartments—literal, cultural, and emotional—that shape their realities. These may be physical environments, inherited traditions, coded gestures, or internalised systems. The artists respond with forms of assertion, vulnerability, observation, and embodied memory, revealing how, within these constructed spaces, resilience is continually cultivated.
The works ask: when does a boundary shield, and when does it isolate? What does it mean to find power in silence, or connection in solitude? Through image, pigment, form, and breath, the artists trace the architectures—visible and invisible—that define movement, stillness, and identity.
“At Method, we’ve always been interested in the in-between spaces that are overlooked, stories that unfold quietly, power that isn’t always loud,” says Sahil Arora, founder and curator of Method. “Ladies Compartment is exactly that: a meditation on what it means to exist within systems of care and control, visibility and silence. Collaborating with Gallery Melike Bilir allows us to extend these conversations across borders while staying rooted in deeply personal and local experiences.”
Melike Bilir, founder of the Hamburg-based gallery, adds: “At Gallery Melike Bilir, we are committed to creating space for voices that challenge and expand the narratives around gender, identity, and public space. Ladies Compartment resonates deeply with this ethos—offering an intimate yet powerful lens on resilience, visibility, and the lived experiences of women navigating both real and symbolic boundaries.”
Ladies Compartment is on view from June 24 to July 20, 2025, at Gallery Melike Bilir, Fleetinsel, Hamburg.
The exhibition will take place as part of India Week Hamburg 2025. India Week Hamburg is a series of events that has been highlighting the close ties between Hamburg and India since 2007. It showcases the diversity of Indian culture and highlights topics from politics, business, science, and society to strengthen exchange and cooperation. The exhibition is supported by the Hamburg Senate and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media.
Galerie Melike Bilir is a contemporary art space located in the heart of Hamburg, on the culturally significant Fleetinsel. Positioned at the intersection of commercial gallery and curatorial experiment, the gallery presents work by both international and local artists who engage with pressing social issues and challenge conventional modes of perception.
The program focuses on experimental and conceptual practices spanning painting, installation, performance, and new media. Central to the gallery’s curatorial approach are artistic practices that explore themes such as origin, the body, language, and belonging.
Particular emphasis is placed on collaborations with female and female-identifying artists, as well as with curators whose perspectives actively shape the gallery’s direction.
Galerie Melike Bilir is committed to long-term collaborations, individual artistic development, and a curatorial practice that creates space for openness, critical discourse, and creative autonomy, both through independent projects and sustained partnerships.
Exhibition Dates: June 24 – July 20, 2025
at Gallery Melike Bilir, Fleetinsel, Hamburg
Presented by: Method (India), in collaboration with Gallery Melike Bilir
Artists: Anushree Fadnavis, Avani Rai, Darshika Singh, Keerthana Kunnath, Krithika Sriram, Shaheen Peer
16.06.2025