IFA@Mumbai: Searching Cultures: Looking At the Tree Again - Presentation by Zubeni Lotha | Studio Tamaasha | January 28, 2018

India Foundation for the Arts
in collaboration with
Tamaasha Theatre
presents
Looking At the Tree Again
A presentation by photographer Zubeni Lotha
Sunday, January 28, 2018 | 06:30 PM | Studio Tamaasha
Bungalow 76, Aram Nagar 2, Versova, Andheri(W), Mumbai

Join us for a presentation by photographer Zubeni Lotha on her project Looking At the Tree Again at Studio Tamaasha, Mumbai on Sunday, January 28, 2018.

In 1936, the Austrian ethnologist Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, in his photographs of the Konyak Nagas, created the first archetypal and universal image of the Nagas as a 'primitive' people. Photographer Zubeni Lotha critiques Fürer-Haimendorf's images of the Konyak Nagas, published in his book titled Naked Nagas,and, his relationship with and understanding of the community. Her presentation will show us how this 'colonial construction' of identity and representation of the Nagas was framed by the lens of early anthropology in British India. She will also discuss her photographs which attempts to study and reinterpret Fürer-Haimendorf's images and, explore the ways in which the daily life of the Konyak Nagas can be portrayed and understood today.

Zubeni Lotha is a photographer from Dimapur, Nagaland. Her work has been published in Outlook Traveller and The Caravan, and she has contributed to The New York Times and Random House blogs. Her practice captures snippets of tribal life in Nagaland in the face of rapid socio-economic change. Her project How Do I Look, questions the idea of Naga culture, identity and representation and her ongoing work on her hometown—Dimapur 797112 —was exhibited in New Delhi in 2012.

Zubeni Lotha received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts under the Arts Research programme, with support from Titan Company Limited.

This presentation is part of the Searching Cultures series—a year-long collaboration between IFA and Tamaasha Theatre, presenting a selection of IFA grantee projects in Mumbai through 2017-2018!

Please note that while entry to the event is free, please block a seat by registering here or write to tamaashatheatre@gmail.com