West Windsor Arts will bring the South Indian tradition of Golu back to the community in October with an expanded celebration built around storytelling, music, dance and visual art.
“Golu 2026: The Ten Avatars” will be held Saturday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m. at West Windsor Arts.
Now in its third year at the arts center, the event has grown from a traditional Golu, in which friends and neighbors gather to create and share elaborate displays of dolls and treasured heirlooms, into a broader community celebration.
This year’s event will include guided storytelling, live performances of Indian music and dance, interactive art activities for children, Indian refreshments and a display of dolls and figurines built around the theme of the 10 avatars of Vishnu.
Golu is traditionally associated with Navratri, a nine-day Hindu celebration that is particularly important in South India. Families create tiered displays of dolls and figurines, often combining religious figures with scenes depicting everyday life, history and culture.
Many of the dolls are made of clay or wood and brightly painted, and some are treasured heirlooms passed from one generation to another. The displays become gathering places where family members, friends and neighbors visit one another, share food and music and experience the stories represented by the figures.
The arrangement of the dolls is itself an important part of the tradition. Displays can include deities, mythological figures, animals, musicians and scenes from daily life, allowing each family to tell its own visual story. Over time, collections often grow as new dolls are added and older ones are handed down, giving the display both a cultural and a personal history.
Visiting other homes is also part of the tradition, making Golu as much a social event as an artistic or religious one. Guests may sing devotional songs, exchange food and gifts and spend time viewing the displays. That tradition of opening the celebration to others is part of what West Windsor Arts has sought to bring into a public setting.
West Windsor Arts brought that household tradition into its gallery space in 2024 with “From Ethereal to Real: A Navratri Golu,” an installation created by local artist Padmaja Ganapathy. That year’s display used mythology and metaphor to explore global warming while also introducing visitors to the cultural and spiritual significance of Golu.
The 2024 celebration included Indian classical music, children’s art activities and opportunities to tour the installation over an 11-day period. Ganapathy said at the time that a Golu could capture a cross-section of society through its figures, using the displays to reflect history and culture.
The West Windsor Arts celebration has continued to evolve since then. Rather than simply recreating a household display, the arts center has increasingly used Golu as a framework for combining visual art, performance and storytelling in a way that invites visitors from different backgrounds to take part.
This year, Ganapathy, now president of the West Windsor Arts Board of Trustees and curator of the event, has developed an installation around the 10 avatars of Vishnu.
“We reimagined a traditional Golu as an immersive and symbolic art installation: The ten avatars of Vishnu are represented through symbolic masks, objects, fabric and suspended forms, with the sleeping Vishnu presiding above them,” Ganapathy said. “The installation invokes questions and sparks curiosity about what the ten avatars are.”
Visitors will be able to scan QR codes at each of the 10 avatars to learn more about them.
“The installation explores how Vishnu, the ‘Preserver’ in Hindu mythology, takes different forms to restore balance when the world is in turmoil,” Ganapathy said. “Together, the avatars represent transformation, resilience and the timeless hope that harmony can be renewed, time and time again.”
The event is designed to be participatory rather than simply an exhibition for visitors to view. Ganapathy said people are encouraged to become part of the celebration by singing and dancing, participating in art activities, completing images and using their own imaginations to connect the stories presented throughout the installation.
That community involvement reflects the traditional spirit of Golu, which centers not only on the dolls themselves but also on people gathering around the displays and sharing music, stories and other traditions. For visitors unfamiliar with Golu, the combination of performances, guided storytelling and interactive elements provides several ways to experience the tradition without needing any prior knowledge of it.
“As the event grows in popularity over the years, it has been seen as a great venue to showcase artistic talents, and many artists have reached out this year to perform,” Ganapathy said. “We have local as well as out-of-state talent from as far away as Canada.”
Another traditional art form will greet visitors before they enter. A dedicated “Kolam committee” will create kolams, geometric designs traditionally drawn at entrances, at the arts center.
The event also serves as a fundraiser supporting West Windsor Arts’ cultural programs. A $10 registration fee helps cover event expenses, while additional donations support programming throughout the year.
Donors will have an opportunity to preview the Golu installation during a special donor appreciation event Friday, Oct. 2.
West Windsor Arts offers arts and cultural events, workshops and classes for all ages and in a variety of disciplines at its arts center and throughout the community.
For more information, call 609-716-1931 or visit westwindsorarts.org.
