For working with the Kerala Museum, Kochi to envisage and curate a series of activities engaging the collection that includes exhibitions, public programmes and outreach events for both adults and children. The Kerala Museum’s collection is representative of important milestones in the world of visual art from all over India. Beginning with Raja Ravi Verma, Rama Verma, and Abanindranath Tagore, the collection includes artists from Shantiniketan; the Bengal School; those who were part of the Progressive Movement like M F Husain, F N Souza, Akbar Padamsee, as well as contemporary ones.
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 working with the Assam State Museum, which was founded by the Kamrupa Anusandhan Samiti in 1940 and was taken over by the Government of Assam in 1953. Currently, the museum has 14 galleries with a collection of over 15,000 objects from the region. This fellowship to Shubhasree supports research to explore the period prior to the arrival of the Ahom rulers in 13th century Assam through the objects in the entire collection of the museum. The project aims to highlight the rich cultural legacies of the region, the Sanskritisation of Assam, and the ways in which regional histories like that of Assam, have played a major role in the larger mainstream histories of the country. The outcome will be a series of events like lectures, small exhibitions around objects that will then feed into a large temporary exhibition at the end of the fellowship period.
For working with the Assam State Museum, which was founded by the Kamrupa Anusandhan Samiti in 1940 and was taken over by the Government of Assam in 1953. Currently, the museum has 14 galleries with a collection of over 15,000 objects from the region. This fellowship to Sayantan supports research into the Naga collection at the museum. The project aims to study the objects which form an integral part of the culture and tradition of the Naga tribes, towards curating a series of interdisciplinary events that will locate these objects in the complex and volatile living history of the Nagas. The outcome will be a series of events throughout the year including exhibitions and public programmes around the Naga collection.
For working with the Assam State Museum, which was founded by the Kamrupa Anusandhan Samiti in 1940 and was taken over by the Government of Assam in 1953. Currently, the museum has 14 galleries with a collection of over 15,000 objects from the region. This fellowship to Desire Machine Collective supports the creation of a new discourse around the museum and its collection. The project aims to ‘de-colonise’ the cultural memory in the museum and open up the space for popular and indigenous knowledges, re-imagining Assam both in its geographical and historical construct, as a link that connects South with Southeast Asia. The outcome will be a series of events around objects from the entire collection in the museum throughout the year including artistic interventions, installations, exhibitions, workshops, presentations, talks and video screenings.
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 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 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.
