Coinciding with Salman Toor: Someone Like You (The Courtauld Gallery, 2 October 2026 – 10 January 2027), Toor’s first solo museum show in Europe, the 2026/2027 Frank Davis Memorial Lecture series invites an international roster of academics, curators, conservators and practitioners to reflect on materiality, identity, storytelling, and politics in the art of the South Asian diaspora.
Using the work of Toor’s exhibition as a springboard, the series will explore the cultural significance of motifs and symbols of South Asia in Toor’s work, celebrate the shimmering queer representation in South Asian art more widely, and examine contemporary art of South Asia and its display and interpretation through a de-colonial lens. The series encourages new thinking and diverse perspectives on the exhibition and the aesthetics of South Asian art.
Organised by Elena Crippa (Senior Curator of Contemporary Art) and Leyla Arrianne Bumbra (Head of Research Forum) at The Courtauld.
