For the implementation of a Foundation Project by IFA that will facilitate research and analysis towards creation of a publication and exhibition based on materiality of “paper” and how it was positioned, discussed and not-discussed mainly in the advertisements published in Marg during the first decade, i.e. 1946 to 1956. The primary outcome of the project will be 100 copies of an artist book and an exhibition. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be the artist book, along with texts, samples of paper-materials generated as part of the project, a manuscript, materials and elements, mainly papers and auxiliary objects which will emerge from making the book, the documentation of the exhibition and a dossier of the ephemera related to the exhibition. Additionally, the Project Coordinator will submit audiotapes of the interaction with different people during the course of the project. This is collaboration with the archives of The Marg Foundation, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Project funds will pay for contract fees, exhibition, travel and living, materials, publication, hire of equipment, archives and library fees.
For an artistic and scholarly inquiry into the history of publishing in Darjeeling, with a focus on Nepali publications. Drawing on an earlier project supported by IFA that studied the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines in the digital age, this dissemination grant seeks to cover the gap of scholarship in the nearly 100-year-old history of publishing in Nepali in West Bengal. The outcomes of the project will be an exhibition, a panel discussion and the publication of a booklet. Grant funds will pay for travel and living, honorarium, exhibition costs, professional fees, publication costs, material and stationery and an accountant’s fee.
For the creation of an experimental prose-narrative in Bangla, in collaboration with a visual artist. The project tentatively titled Harilo Shaareer Kachhe Pajama Mohima (‘The Glory of The Pajama Loses to the Sari’) attempts to explore the travails of Bengal’s first women doctors in the early 19th century. It will study the complex dynamics between these women and the various stakeholders of the medical system at the time – practitioners of traditional medicine, male doctors of modern medicine, and lower caste midwives. The fictional work based on historical narratives will combine text with visual material from personal collections, libraries, and archives to form a framework for a book. The project will culminate in this book.The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the manuscript of the book and published copies of the same, and photographic and digital documentation of artworks created for the book. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, material, local travel, professional fees, and an accountant’s fee.
For a two-phase workshop enquiring into the design and editing practices of Bengali Little Magazines, at a time when digital designing and desktop publishing is becoming the norm. Young practitioner participants will work together with mentor experts to create new aesthetic experiments. The outcomes of the grant will be a book and an exhibition from the materials of the workshop.
