The first exhibition room at the Aargau Art Museum is bright and welcoming. The walls are adorned with large-scale chalk drawings of different types of plant. Some of these drawings appear almost three-dimensional thanks to the fabric fragments glued onto them. "These fabrics once belonged to saris. These are Indian saree fabrics called 'Chapa', which means print," explains Ishita Chakraborty. The 35-year-old created the artworks adorning the walls of the museum. In 2024, the young artist, originally from Kolkata, India, won the Manor Art Prize. This earned her a solo exhibition at the Aargau Art Museum in Aarau.

However, it is not the aesthetic drawings stretching across the walls or the glass barriers standing as the only installation in this first room that distinguish Ishita as an artist. It is the messages behind the art. "I want to create a platform for all those voices that would otherwise go unheard," she explains. "We should always ask ourselves who can speak and which voices are actually heard," she says, emphasising how important this aspect of her art is to her. The mural O bastante! (Portuguese for "Enough is enough!") was inspired by a three-month residency in the Brazilian Amazon region. "It speaks about the exploitation and extraction of natural ecosystems, among other things."

 

She taught art at a university in India

Speaking to Ishita, one gets the feeling of conversing with someone who has lived many lives. She moved to Switzerland in 2017. She came through the "Artist in Residence" programme at the Gästeatelier Krone in Aarau. "There has been an exchange between India and Switzerland for many years. Every two years, an artist can come to Switzerland for six months." In Kolkata, a metropolis of millions in eastern India, the 27-year-old Ishita taught visual arts at a university. "I was in a privileged position," she explains. "But I didn’t want to spend my whole life in one place doing the same job, so I came to Aarau."

The capital of the canton of Aargau was not her first choice. "I also applied for a residency in Paris," she explained to her father. "When I told my father I was travelling to Switzerland, he congratulated me. He said that many people travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon. He added that I should be happy to spend six months in one of the most beautiful countries in the world." Those first six months in Switzerland were just like that. "I was in a kind of honeymoon phase, amazed by so many things, but also sometimes confused when I didn’t know which cheese to choose in the shop."

 

Language as the key in a new country

After six months, Ishita returned to Kolkata and was inspired to learn German in preparation for her planned return to Switzerland. "I never felt forced to learn the language. I always wanted to be part of society and meet new people. I believe that language is the key to that. I have built so many friendships and relationships here over the years." Ishita found more than just friends in Switzerland; she also established her reputation as an artist there, with her work exhibited in Zurich and Nyon, among other places.

For her art and her family, Ishita often travels all over the world. "Very often with SWISS," she explains. "I really appreciate the direct flight to Delhi." There, she visits her sister and the gallery spaces she works with. "I like to travel. Travelling enriches you in so many ways: You gain knowledge and meet people."

She says that life in India is different. "Everything there is much livelier, but also much tenser. So many things happen in the blink of an eye. The streets are colourful and full of life; there are so many different languages and cultures. But there are also other problems, including the caste system. There are simply so many people. Seeing so many problems from an early age shapes you."

Ishita lives in Möriken-Wildegg, a village with just under 5,000 inhabitants in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. "I like that it is so quiet in Switzerland. I recognise this calmness in the people of the Himalayas, where I partially grew up. I know it all sounds like a cliché. But I firmly believe that this landscape affects our thoughts and bodies. I also appreciate the greater safety I feel here as a woman. I can walk home alone at three in the morning. That is very nice."

Earlier, Ishita explains, she was always impatiently waiting to be able to fly back to India. "Although I was already living here in Switzerland, my real home was there." Today, she still very much enjoys visiting her homeland and loved ones. "But Switzerland is also my home now."