For working with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore, founded by Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman which houses more than 5,000 historical photographs, handwritten letters, artefacts and instruments that Prof Raman used in his lifetime. This fellowship supports research that will lead to a permanent display of archival material at the Raman Research Institute. The outcome will involve the designing and curating of this permanent display that will both accommodate and showcase the material from the past, together with current research that is underway in the Institute. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be process images, images of the exhibition, texts and publication if any.
For working with the Delhi Visual Archive housed in the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK), Ambedkar University, Delhi. The Delhi Visual Archive is a repository of the visual history of Delhi, from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which includes a current holding of 4,500 digitised photographs. This fellowship supports research that will explore a middle ground between the two dominant discourses of architecture and anthropology. While architecture has always focused on built structure and monumentality and anthropology on the relationship between material culture and people, this project will explore the role that the built environment has had on shaping peoples’ lives. The outcome will include public programmes such as workshops, lectures, and field trips. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be images, audio recordings, texts, and a publication.
For a game designer to experiment with pushing the boundaries of both literary fiction and interactive games. The narrative will build an imaginary location and characters to interrogate ideas of colonial history, influenced by the works of major international authors. The outcomes of the grant will be an interactive fiction piece that will be free for download from gaming sites and a few smaller builds which can be showcased in exhibitions
For the construction of a data visualisation prototype to expose and make readable the information that is layered in text based data in Prof Jyoti Bhatt’s photographs and other associated materials, from his series Living Traditions that forms part of the Asia Art Archive. For nearly four decades Prof Bhatt has been documenting various ‘living traditions’, the arts, crafts and daily lives of people across the country. This project will draw on Prof Bhatt’s photographs, notes, sketchbooks, diaries, audio interviews and articles.
For a series of five workshops across the country, followed by a colloquium, to conceptualise and design an academic curriculum for curatorial studies. The workshops will be held in smaller towns and cities to ensure that the proposed curriculum accommodates regional discourses, issues and concerns.
For research, documentation and a workshop with a group of young Warli artists to study the impacts of various influences including Christianisation on their work, thereby tracing the developments of Warli art in the present context. The project seeks to critique existing frameworks and explore new ways to write about and curate tribal art in India.
For a three-day international conference titled Archiving Art Histories: Exigencies and Challenges in Pedagogy and Research. The conference will survey the history of archiving, research and teaching practices of art history in Indian art schools. The conference will think through and devise ways of improving the present state of visual archives in art teaching institutions in the country.
For exhibiting artwork created during the Himmat workshops with the women survivors of the Gujarat violence in 2002. The exhibitions will take place in major galleries in Mumbai and Delhi and a travelling module will also be created for further dissemination to non-metropolitan venues.
For digital photography and annotation of 5,500 miniature paintings largely from the Jaina traditions of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The paintings, ranging from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, form an eclectic and unique collection. to facilitate research on the materials. The project will improve scholarly access to the miniature paintings and facilitate preservation of the original materials.
For designing and conducting a series of workshops for women survivors of the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. The workshops, which will build on the artist’s earlier attempts to integrate art, research and activism, are expected to be a model for how the arts might engage intimately with pertinent social concerns.
