Snehal Pratap Morey

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will facilitate research towards the creation of a comprehensive illustrated catalogue based on selected objects from the collection of Silver at Zapurza Museum of Art and Culture (ZMAC) in Pune, Maharashtra. This project will trace the evolution of artistic practices with precious metal of silver in India and specifically in the region of present-day Maharashtra, since the mid-19th century through study of a variety of objects in the silver collection of the museum. ZMAC, situated on the banks of Khadakwasla Dam in Pune, Maharashtra, is a not-for-profit art initiative under PN Gadgil Art and Culture Foundation led by Mr Ajit Gadgil. Borne out of Mr Gadgil’s personal collection, ZMAC has objects ranging from rare pieces of jewellery, paintings by traditional and contemporary artists, textiles, lithograph prints by Raja Ravi Varma, a collection of miniature paintings, and various kinds of manuscripts, everyday objects and a diverse range of ephemera. Snehal Pratap Morey is the Project Coordinator for this project.

Snehal Pratap Morey is a museum professional currently working as a curatorial associate at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum. She is experienced in designing and executing educational and outreach programmes for the museum. Being fluent in English and Marathi, Snehal has actively worked in making art and museum collections accessible to diverse audiences through translating exhibition interpretation materials. Snehal is the recipient of the Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA), a 2023 curatorial fellowship by Khoj International Artists’ Association, supported by Goethe Institut, in collaboration with India International Centre, IIC, New Delhi and has worked under the mentorship of Latika Gupta & Shuddhabrata Sengupta. She holds a degree in Fine Arts with a specialisation in Sculpture from the Sir JJ School of Arts (2011) and has successfully completed the International Curatorial Program offered by NODE, Germany, in 2023. Given her rich experience in the field of museum and curation, Snehal is best suited to be the Project Coordinator for this Foundation Project implemented by IFA.

Centred on the collection of silver objects at ZMAC, this Foundation Project will conduct research to unfold stories about the objects, locating them at the intersection of taste, influence of patronage, regional language of design and craftsmanship vis-à-vis colonial influence. The study will explore how regional semantics of designs continued and at times reinvented itself owing to the economic forces of colonisation, which informed the manufacturing, circulation of these objects and material culture associated with a precious metal like silver. For the research towards the catalogue, Snehal will primarily work on the objects in the collection of ZMAC, but in order to learn about the larger historical context and its nuances the Project Coordinator would expand her lens by studying silver collections in the other museums across the country including the Bhawani museum in Aundh, collection of the Town Hall in Kolhapur, Sangli Museum, Nagpur Central Museum in Maharashtra; Amrapali Museum and City Palace Museum in Jaipur, National Museums in Calcutta, Chennai and New Delhi. In addition to these, in consultation with the museum and Mr Ajit Gadgil, Snehal will visit artisans and craftspeople to understand the evolution of the practices, design and manufacturing processes. 

The research towards the final catalogue will be premised on the themes of - Consumption of Silverwares: Intersections of Material and Design History; Evolution of Poona Style; Impact of Colonisation on Design Language; Exploration of Regional Design History. Despite significant mentions across various museum catalogues and scholarship, there exists a gap in the study of regional styles of silver manufacturing that was practiced, the remnants of which can be found in continuum in present-day Maharashtra. This project presents an opportunity to address this lacuna by investigating collections in the ZMAC along with collections from other Indian and state museums that acquired silverwares, making a significant contribution to the existing scholarship. Keeping in mind the programmatic impulse of the Archives and Museums programme, the Project Coordinator will also conduct workshops and create plans and prototypes of public programming that will be executed during the course of the project.

Snehal has divided the one year of project term into four phases starting with – exploring the collection to select and categorise objects during the first three months. In the second phase she will focus on conducting in-depth research and fieldwork followed by writing and drafting of the catalogue, and devising public programmes in the last two phases respectively.

The outcomes of this project will be the draft of the illustrated catalogue along with workshops and plans and prototypes of public programming that will be executed during the course of the project and in the future by the museum. 

The Project Coordinator’s final deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the draft of the illustrated catalogue, supplementary research outputs, the proceedings and audio-visual recordings of the workshop and the plans and prototypes of public programming that will be executed during the course of the project and beyond that by the museum.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Tata Trusts, with the corpus interest of an earlier seed grant.