If you’re an enthusiast of history and art, ‘Paper Gardens: Art, Botany and Empire’, currently on view at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, will be right up your alley. Curated by Shrey Maurya in collaboration with the research organisation Impart. The exhibition traces how botanical images from the 17th to 20th century Indian subcontinent were created, classified, and circulated within colonial scientific and imperial networks.

Featuring more than 120 works displayed across two galleries, the works are sourced from several institutions, including the Linnean Society and Wellcome Collection in the United Kingdom, Oak Spring Garden and Missouri Botanical Garden in the United States, and MAP’s own holdings.

A group of early printed volumes introduces the historical scope. Among them is Hortus Malabaricus, a large multi-volume flora that records hundreds of plants from the Malabar region along with information on their uses. Another major work is Thesaurus Zeylanicus, which catalogues species from present-day Sri Lanka. These books demonstrate how European scholars compiled local botanical knowledge in collaboration with South Asian experts, healers, and translators.

Plant species from India entered the colonial-led classification system through large-scale collecting expeditions and surveys. In many cases, plants that were already embedded in regional medical and culinary practices were recorded in Europe under new names that honoured mainly the colonial patrons, officials, or botanists instead of South Asian experts, healers, artists, and translators.

The exhibition draws attention to the role of Indian artists within this system. Botanical surveys relied on specialists trained in miniature painting, textile design, and courtly illustration to create detailed images suitable for scientific study. These drawings compress roots, stems, flowers, fruit, and seeds into a single plate so that a specimen could be studied, as transporting the living plant was a logistical challenge.

Many of the images were unsigned, and archival records rarely identify the individuals who produced them. A small number of artists, such as Vishnuprasad and Gorachand from the colonial botanical garden in Calcutta, are named in the wall texts, which note their contribution to this visual archive. Several displays examine how classification systems changed as imperial activity expanded. The exhibition outlines the adoption of Carl Linnaeus’s binomial nomenclature, which assigned Latin names to plants and became a global standard. 

Bengaluru’s famed Lalbagh Botanical Garden functions as a local anchor within the narrative. Archival images and documents show how the garden shifted from an 18th century royal project under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan to a colonial research station that participated in global exchanges of seeds and saplings. Knowledge produced in such sites travelled to institutions abroad through networks of correspondence, specimen exchange, and botanical illustration.

A section introduces objects linked to the movement of plants themselves, including a case used for transporting fragile specimens over long distances by sea. An accompanying publication brings together essays by historian Holly Shafer, botanist Henry Noltie, and writer Sumana Roy, who contextualise the works from their respective disciplines.

‘Paper Gardens: Art, Botany and Empire’ is on view at MAP, Kasturba Road, Bengaluru, until July 5, 2026. You can buy tickets for the exhibition here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here’s more from Homegrown:

Sandeep Menon’s ‘Sacred Grounds’ Maps The Beautiful Game's Political & Social Influence

The Down Troddence Is Reimagining Indian Metal As A Site Of Real Political Resistance

What Can’t Be Streamed: The Tactile Legacy Of Coshish’s 'Firdous'

Perumal Murugan & Appupen's Vaadivaasal Is A Graphic Reimagining Of A Tamil Classic