For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will explore the role played by Telugu-language journals and magazines, particularly Bharati and Gruhalakshmi, in shaping the discourse on art and nationalism within the context of the New Andhra School of art from the 1920s to the 1940s. The outcomes of this project will be a monograph. Alongside the text, it will contain images of the artworks, photographs, drawings and paintings. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the monograph, rare publications purchased during the project term and a digital repository of collected images. Project funds will pay for contract fees, travel and living, printing, communication, hire of equipment, archives and library fees, purchase of books and stationery.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will explore the question of modernity and citizenship in cinema in the erstwhile princely states of Hyderabad, Kolhapur, Jaipur, and Indore. To understand the history of cinema outside of the framework of film as an industry and profit-making enterprise, this project will examine how rulers of the princely system viewed and engaged with cinema as patrons. The outcomes of this project will be an essay, an exhibition and audiovisual documentation from the field. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the reports, will be an essay, documentation of the exhibition and audiovisual documentation. Project funds will pay for travel and living, production, hire of equipment, library and archive fees, and purchase of books.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA under Explorations which will attempt to reimagine Mughlai Vesham, a form of Mohiniyattam which incorporates the courtly style of Kathak including its costume, now erased from public memory. The outcome of the project will be the experimental dance piece with live music and a research paper on the artistic process. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a video recording of the experimental piece and the research paper. Project funds will pay for contract fees and the hiring of equipment.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, which will re-examine Hyderabad’s public museums and archives as social institutions at a time when the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into two states, with Hyderabad as the capital of both from 2014-2024. Investigating this particular decade (in which the collections too are being bifurcated), the project will attempt a new collective biography of these institutions that will address their origins, collection records and ownership dilemmas over conflicting histories and contested objects and artefacts. The outcomes of this project will be a symposium and a series of museum podcasts. The Project Coordinators’ deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audiovisual documentation of the symposium proceedings and copies of the podcasts. Project funds will pay for contract fees and the symposium.
For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA, to develop one of the country’s first dedicated museum podcasts tentatively titled Altars of Time: A History of Goa through its Christian Art. This will narrate the history of Goa through select objects from the Museum of Christian Art (MoCA) in Goa. The podcast will consist of 25 episodes of about 15 minutes each. Each episode will explore one object through its craftsmanship, aesthetics, and the social and religious spaces where it originated, situating it within the broader context of Goa and the Indian Ocean. The outcomes will be the podcast and a story-map exhibit website which will visually highlight the location and timeline of the artifacts discussed in the podcast. The Principal Investigator's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the podcast and the story-map. This is a collaboration with the MoCA, Goa. Project funds will pay for honorarium, professional fees and production expenses.
For the making of an audio play titled The Chat Room in Alwal that will relive the moments of accessing internet cafes for the first time 25 years ago. The outcome of the project other than this play will be a blog with photographs of the internet cafe. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the audio play, the link to the blog, and all the materials of the blog downloaded on a drive. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, honorarium, local conveyance, printing and studio hire.
For research to study the work songs of women in Telangana focusing on the Uyyala Paatalu songs, which are predominantly sung while working in the fields or as labour in the informal sector. The project will explore the socio-political and cultural relevance of the songs in the present context by looking at the subversive histories of participation of women in the people’s struggle of Telangana and their assertions against patriarchal and caste oppressions in the region. The outcome of this project and the Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a film. The grant funds will cover honorarium, equipment rental and studio hiring costs, professional fees, travel and living costs, production costs, and an accountant’s fee.
For working with the collections of ‘Munn Maps’ at the Kalakriti Archives in Hyderabad, Telangana. The Kalakriti Archives house the largest collection of maps in India. Sirisha will conduct research on these maps of Hyderabad city commissioned by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1908 after the devastating floods in the city, which were created under the supervision of Leonard Munn, the chief inspector of mines under the Nizam regime. The study proposes to use the survey maps as tools to explore the non-physical aspects of the city’s topography. Using landscape as text, and oral histories, the project will provide insights into the social and cultural geographies of particular neighbourhoods in the city. The outcomes could include a series of events like lectures, discussions, workshops, and a paper. She will also think of organising ‘city walks’ in select areas of the city.
For research to excavate the discursive formation of pedagogy in arts schools in Hyderabad forged by the individual journeys of artists trained at different art schools across India, who wove a network that linked the region with other cities. The attempt is to understand arts practice of this region and its history, without participating in its national narrative and challenging the same. The outcome of this project will be a monograph.
For research into India’s disparate botanical art traditions, focusing on four colonial botanical texts ranging from the seventeenth-century Hortus Indicus Malabaricus to the nineteenth-century Flora Indica. The research will involve matching the texts with what exists in the gardens, and making visible the unnamed indigenous botanical artists of Company paintings as well as the variations in botanical iconography across diverse print media: engravings, watercolours, and lithographs. This research is part of a larger project to document an Indian botanical ‘Ark-ive’ or a visual genealogy of botanical arts traditions on the printed page. The outcome will be a website.
