Bengaluru welcomes the world’s first museum of anamorphic art

In Bengaluru’s Cooke Town, the world’s first Miller Museum of Anamorphic Art opened in honour of the late Bengaluru-born artist and educator Shereen Miller. The museum blends art, architecture, mathematics, and emotion, creating an immersive space that challenges perception and plays with visual illusion. “It was my mother’s dream to bring her art back home,” says Cheryl Anita Miller in a chat with us. Excerpts:

‘My mother was discouraged from being an artist, but she never stopped'
“My mom was born in a time when art wasn’t considered a serious pursuit for women,” Cheryl recalls. “Her family discouraged her from becoming an artist, so she became a teacher instead. But her creativity never left her; it just waited for its moment when she moved to Kuwait for work. It was the first time she found true independence — and she poured that freedom into her art,” she adds.

‘Anamorphic art inspired and fascinated her so much that she self-taught herself’
“When she visited the Rijksmuseum, she discovered anamorphic art — 16th- and 17th-century works that appeared distorted until viewed from a particular angle. It fascinated her completely. Without formal training, books, or the internet, she taught herself the complex geometry behind the form. She’d sit for hours with rulers and mirrors, exploring how perception could be bent and reshaped,” Cheryl says. “What began as an experiment soon became her life’s work. Over the next four decades, her artwork travelled to 74 exhibitions, including St Paul’s Cathedral, where she became the first artist in 400 years to exhibit,” she shares.

‘She packed up her life at 80 to bring the art back to her home’
Cheryl recalls, “She told me she wanted to bring her art home. Not to a gallery, but to a place where people could experience it — where art could interact with you, not just hang on a wall.” The mother-daughter duo began planning the Museum of Anamorphic Art in the year 2022, and both were deeply involved in everything from design to music. “A month before it was completed, she passed away. For a while, I couldn’t even step inside. But I knew this wasn’t just a museum — it was her dream, and I had to finish it,” she says.

‘Anamorphic art is not only to be seen but also to participate’
From surreal sculptures to charcoal artworks to digital installations, the museum invites visitors to see it from a different perspective. “It’s the only art that moves from abstract to realism in a single piece,” Cheryl explains. “You have to walk around it, engage with it — no photograph or video can capture that moment of discovery. It’s meant to awaken every sense. Anamorphic art is not only to be seen but also to participate,” she concludes.