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 lead to a curated, interactive, virtual exhibition with experiential visual and audio inputs. In addition, the Fellow will create public programmes through the use of memory pods, using an app and the website, aimed to connect different communities and members of families with each other and the Centre for Community Knowledge. The outcome will include a virtual exhibition and the installation of memory pods. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be images, audio recordings, the memory pod/app activation, and a publication.
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 set of workshops and a 30-day reconnaissance train journey undertaken by a group of artists, in an attempt to gather diverse perspectives around identity in India. The journey, which will touch four locations Bangalore–Dhemaji–Srinagar–Perambavoor, will involve performances, performative interactions, and interviews with fellow passengers and the crew of the train. The outcome will be a broad performance structure, based on which the project will be further developed on another train journey. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be documentation of the process in the form of stills, videos or sketches made during the journey.
For working with the collections of ‘Mann Maps’ at the Kalakriti Archives in Hyderabad, Telangana. This fellowship supports research on the maps of Hyderabad, commissioned by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1908 in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the city. These maps were created under the supervision of Leonard Munn, chief inspector of mines under the Nizam regime. The research aims at studying the idea of map-making and cartography on the one hand, and interaction between the map and its user on the other, in an attempt to understand the human experience of maps. The outcome of the project will include a video art installation, a publication, workshops, talks, and events.
For a project that attempts to bridge the gap in arts based learning in the fourth standard under the government’s Nali Kali programme. This particular programme will take place for the students in the fourth standard at the Government Higher Primary School, Maravanthe, Kundapura Taluk, Udupi. Through a series of workshops he would engage educationists, artists and designers to guide teachers and children in creating a self learning kit that connect their local environment to their syllabus. The outcomes will be the learning kit and a performance. The deliverables of the grant would include photographs from the workshops and performance, the learning kit and a ten to twelve minute video documentation. Grant funds will pay for preparatory costs, honorarium, printing costs, documentation costs, professional fees, travel costs, performance costs, refreshment costs and an accountant’s fee.
For a project that will enable the eighth grade students of the Government High School (PUC Section) at Malur, Tirthahalli Taluk, Shivamogga, to explore texts from the school syllabus by interpreting it through the poly-vocal rendition of Vadapu which is used in the performance of Puravanthike, a folk art form from the region. Through this process they will consider multiple possibilities of creating performance pieces. The outcome will be a stage performance which will be presented at two to three school venues. The deliverables of the grant would include photographs from the workshops and performance, and a ten to twelve minute video documentation. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, performance costs, professional fees, documentation costs, refreshment costs, costume and music costs, preparatory costs, travel costs and an accountant’s fee.
For a series of exhibitions of photographs of veteran Jatra artists taken during an earlier IFA supported project by Soumya Sankar Bose, across five remote areas of West Bengal where Jatra artists still live. This will enable the photographer to take his work back to the community and create conversations around the lives of veteran Jatra artists. The outcome of the project will be the exhibitions.
For a foundation-administered project that supports research into the history, evolution and current musical practice of the Mir musicians of Rajasthan. Through field trips and intensive interactions, this study seeks to analyse the geographical, historical and socio-political confluences, continuities, fissures and divergences in the recent decades that have impacted the trajectories of the music of the Mirs. The outcome of this project will be an essay.
For the creation of a performance based on the abhangs - devotional poetry dedicated to the deity Vithoba - of women warikari saints of Maharashtra. Through intensive travel and research, this project seeks to interpret and perform in the public domain, primarily through music, about 10 to 12 poems of the women saints whose works currently exist only as textual documentation. The outcomes will be two music concerts and recordings of the 10 to 12 songs. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be translations of the chosen songs, audio recordings of the studio recorded songs and video documentation of the performances.
For research into the notions of gender and identity, with specific reference to gender testing in the field of athletics. Through detailed interviews and study, this research will aim to gather a nuanced understanding of gender as a spectrum rather than a binary, challenging accepted modes of identity. The outcome of this grant will be a broad structure for a play and a possible script. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the play structure.
For the creation of a body of photographic works centred on the men of Poompuhar in south Tamilnadu. Drawing from the descriptions of lives and landscape of Poompuhar in the ancient Tamil epic Silappadikaram, this project involves revisiting the town in an attempt to explore questions around identity and territory and provide a contemporary visual interpretation of the epic. The outcome of this grant will be a photo exhibition in Poompuhar. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be digital copies of the photographs and still and video documentation of the process and the exhibition.
For research into the changing practices and ecology of the performance form of Tamasha across Maharashtra. Building on earlier work also supported by IFA, this project entails revisiting, after nearly fifteen years, villages in the Konkan, western and northern Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions to document photographically the cumulative impact of socio-political and economic forces on the art form and the lives of its performers. The outcome of this project will be photographs with field notes.
For a series of workships in the visual arts and storytelling that will connect students and the local community in the Government Primary school at Manipal, Udupi to the issues related to environment in their immediate surroundings. The outcome will be an exhibition. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be audio-visual documentation of the workshops, images, and a ten to twelve minute video document of the entire project. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, exhibition costs, documentation costs, stationery and an accountant’s fee.
For a folk-artist to use an in-depth participant-trainer method with the fifth to seventh grade students of the Government Model Higher Primary School, Goppenahalli, Davanagere District, to engage them in the diverse understandings of Veeragase, a folk arts form that is rapidly fading from the cultural life of Karnataka. The outcomes will be an exhibition and a performance. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be audio-visual documentation of the workshops, images, and a ten to twelve minute video document of the entire project. Grant funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees, material costs, documentation costs and an accountant’s fee.
For research that enquires into the Raseshori Pala of the Sankirtan tradition of Manipur to draw attention to certain aspects of Vaishnavism and its devotional expression through the contribution of women. The project will explore roles of women as custodians for maintaining and carrying forward this artistic tradition. The outcome of this project will be a monograph.
