For the Love of Printmaking emerges from the urge to build a printmaking repository – dreaming to become an encyclopedia.
Over the past twelve years (2013–2025), IPEP India has functioned as an artist-led platform for international exchange among printmakers, educators, students, researchers, and institutions. What began as a modest print exchange initiative gradually evolved into a wider network of exhibitions, collaborations, conversations, and educational programmes spanning multiple geographies.
On the occasion of completing a decade of the exchange programme, the Bihar Museum hosted a month-long exhibition presenting all ten IPEP India portfolios. Alongside were held an extended public programme that included the Printeract Talk Series, a panel discussion at the Museum, and the international virtual symposium For the Love of Printmaking held from 3–5 November 2023.
The symposium emerged from a recognition that while printmaking continues to be actively practised, many of the conversations surrounding the discipline remain dispersed across studios, classrooms, workshops, and exhibition spaces. Questions concerning pedagogy, sustainability, technology, infrastructure, documentation, and public engagement are often discussed within professional circles but rarely assembled into a collective body of knowledge- a repository that intends to become an encyclopedia of Printmaking.
Unlike a conventional academic symposium, nearly half of the presenters were practising artists rather than academic researchers. Contributors were encouraged to write from experience, observation, and practice, allowing the publication to accommodate forms of knowledge that may not always fit within conventional academic frameworks. The result is a collection of essays grounded in direct engagement with the medium and informed by the realities of contemporary practice.
The publication also reflects certain values that have shaped IPEP India since its inception. Operating primarily through a barter-based model of exchange, the initiative has consistently attempted to prioritise participation, accessibility, and peer-to-peer engagement. Extending this ethos into publishing, the symposium sought to create a platform where contributors could collectively build a body of scholarship around printmaking without imposing financial barriers to participation. For the Love of Printmaking emerged from this context. Rather than attempting to define the field, the publication records a range of contemporary perspectives on printmaking from practitioners, educators, researchers, and artist collectives working across different contexts. Bringing together 15 papers by 20 contributors from 9 countries, the volume reflects concerns, questions, and developments currently shaping the discipline and contributes to the growing need for documentation, critical reflection, and dialogue within contemporary printmaking.
Reading the Publication: Themes and Contributions
The publication is organised into three thematic sections that examine the social, educational, material, and technological dimensions of contemporary printmaking.
Engaging the Public: Spaces and Histories
Ecologically Sustainable Printmaking—Inspiring Creative Communities
Aditi Ganeev Sangwan
Examines environmentally conscious printmaking practices and considers how sustainability can become a catalyst for community building, collaboration, and public engagement.
Activism and Assertion: Posters and Prints as Forms of Resistance in Indian Contemporary Art
Preeti Kathuria
Explores the continued relevance of posters and printed matter as tools of activism, public communication, and political expression within contemporary India.
Why do Printmaking Studios not Thrive?
Kavita Shah
Investigates structural, economic, and cultural challenges affecting the sustainability of independent print studios and collective workspaces.
An Unlimited Future for Printmaking
Dr. Tariq Allana
Takes a stock of the individual, collective, and commercial efforts of the past fifty years are converging toward an inflection point that would transform the position of Printmaking within the wider world.
Living A Dark Night: Articulating the Artist’s Voice
Dr. Paula Sengupta
Reflects on artistic agency, personal narrative, and the capacity of printmaking to communicate experiences that extend beyond conventional forms of representation based on the project held during COVID 19 Lockdown.
Evolving Impressions: Decoding a Decade of Printmaking in Bengaluru
Venugopal V.G.
Documents the growth and transformation of printmaking practices in Bengaluru through the lens of artists, institutions, and local networks.
Contemporary Printmaking Eminence of Assam: An Overview
Dr. Raj Kumar Mazinder
Provides a regional survey of printmaking in Assam, highlighting significant practitioners, institutional developments, and emerging directions.
Re-connecting Histories: Discourses Woven out of Archives
Moutushi Chakraborty
Explores archives as active sites of interpretation, revealing how historical records can generate new understandings of artistic practice and cultural memory.
Studies in Pedagogy and Practice
The Print: Matter in Matrix—Postulations on Curatorial and Pedagogical Frameworks towards Printmaking
Satyajit Dave
Considers the relationship between printmaking, curation, and education, proposing expanded frameworks for engaging with the discipline.
A Case Study: The Practical Subjects of Printmaking Studio in EARTE (Remote Hybrid Learning)
Fernando Alvarez
Examines the opportunities and limitations of remote and hybrid models of printmaking education developed during changing educational circumstances.
The Printed Mural and the Printed Animation: Indexical Traces
Sujay Mukherjee
Investigates intersections between printmaking, animation, and mural practices, demonstrating how print methodologies extend beyond traditional formats.
Process and Possibilities
Non-Toxic Printmaking: Adaptation and Challenges
Dr. Prashant Phirangi
Discusses the adoption of safer and environmentally responsible processes while addressing the practical challenges of implementation.
Toward an Eco-Conscious Printmaking Movement
Indrani Nayar-Gall
Advocates for a broader shift towards sustainable studio practices and environmentally informed approaches to printmaking.
Connections—Tales That Split Apart—Now Bind Together: 7 Continents, 6 Rabbit (or Hare) Stories
Judith de Haan, Glynis Lee, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Josef Madisia, Mel Cheong, Eliana Ambrosio
A collaborative project that demonstrates how shared narratives and printmaking methodologies can connect practitioners across continents and cultures.
New and Innovative Print Practices
Dr. Megha Madan
Surveys emerging technologies, hybrid approaches, and experimental processes that continue to expand the possibilities of contemporary printmaking.
Taken together, these essays reveal recurring concerns regarding sustainability, infrastructure, education, archives, community studios, technological shifts, and the future of printmaking. While each contribution is rooted in a specific context, the publication collectively highlights the adaptability and continuing relevance of the discipline within contemporary visual culture.
About the Publication
For the Love of Printmaking is a non-commercial educational publication bringing together perspectives from 10 countries through 15 papers authored by 20 contributors. The volume reflects on public engagement, pedagogy, sustainability, technological change, activism, studio culture, and emerging directions within contemporary printmaking.
Publication Details
| Title | For the Love of Printmaking |
| Editors | Nikhil Purohit, Lina Vincent |
| Publishers | Rajesh Pullarwar, Pradeep Patil |
| Printing Supported By | Art Heritage, New Delhi |
| Paperback ISBN | 978-93-5768-806-2 |
| Digital ISBN | 978-93-5779-492-3 |
| Publication Date | 14 February 2026 |
Contributors
Foreword by Waswo X. Waswo
Essays by Aditi Ganeev Sangwan, Preeti Kathuria, Kavita Shah, Dr. Paula Sengupta, Venugopal V.G., Dr. Raj Kumar Mazinder, Moutushi Chakraborty, Satyajit Dave, Dr. Tariq Allana, Fernando Alvarez, Sujay Mukherjee, Dr. Prashant Phirangi, Indrani Nayar-Gall, Judith de Haan with Glynis Lee, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Josef Madisia, Mel Cheong, and Eliana Ambrosio (combined essay), and Dr. Megha Madan.
About IPEP India
The International Print Exchange Programme (IPEP), India is an artist-led non-profit initiative dedicated to fostering global exchange among printmakers. Since 2013, the programme has engaged more than 375 participants from 49 countries and facilitated over 120 exhibitions worldwide. Operating primarily through a barter-based model of print exchange, IPEP India seeks to encourage dialogue, collaboration, and awareness around contemporary printmaking practices.
Obtaining a Copy
The publication is available in print and digital formats. For availability, orders, and distribution enquiries, please contact IPEP India through its website.
The publication is intended as a resource for artists, educators, students, researchers, curators, and institutions interested in the study and development of contemporary printmaking.
