Grant & Projects

For research towards a documentary film on the artistic legacy of the famous Gond Pradhan artist Jangarh Singh Shyam. The project will critically examine the artistic evolution that was spurred by Jangarh’s inventive artistic style, when the Gond Pradhan community moved from its traditional musical practices towards a modern, urban tradition of visual arts practice in Bhopal. Through an art-historical inquiry into the genesis and propagation of this shift, the project aims to explore the ‘urban’ fetish for the ‘tribal’ as the city continues to subsume a subaltern tribal identity into its cultural landscape. The outcome will be an audiovisual documentation of interviews with the artists and experts, a short video, and working drafts for the script for the documentary film.  The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the audiovisual documentation, video and working drafts of the script. Grant funds will pay for travel and living costs, equipment rental, professional fees, book purchase and an accountant’s fee. 

For research to study the significance and interrelationship of cultural heritage and conflict in Kashmir. The project aims to understand how heritage impacts the identities and values of communities in times of conflict. The outcome will be an essay and an interactive installation with audiovisual recordings from the field and stills of the mapped heritage sites. The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be an essay and an audiovisual documentation from the installation. Grant funds will pay for an honorarium, travel, food and living costs, exhibition costs, professional fees, book purchase, library fees, stationery and photocopy costs, equipment rental and an accountant’s fee.

For research into the lives of Indian courtesans and their families, tracking their journey from their roots in history to the present times. The Grantee will draw on his personal experiences as well as those of women and children who were raised in kothas. With a focus on their music, performance culture, patronage and the circumstances that transformed a traditional cultural practice into sex work, the project will record the struggles and aspirations of people from various communities and trace the erosion of the Kotha culture over time. The outcome will be a manuscript for a book. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the manuscript and an audiovisual documentation from the field. Grant funds will pay for an honorarium, travel, food and living costs, stationery, book purchase, library fee, photocopying, internet and phone bills, professional fees, equipment rental and an accountant’s fee.

For working with the Barpeta District Museum in Assam, which was established in 1987 and houses more than 450 artefacts including a number of objects from the satras – the neo-vaishnavite monasteries that also served as important sociocultural centres for the Assamese society. This fellowship supports research that will lead to a permanent exhibition at the Barpeta District Museum. The outcome will be an inventory of the objects in the collection, a catalogue with brief descriptions, and a permanent exhibition that will be designed and curated to showcase the objects in an engaging and informative manner. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be process images, images of the exhibition, texts and publication, if any.

For the creation of a performance piece that explores the idea of the ‘black hole’ in the realms of science, philosophy and the personal. Exploring connections between consciousness and astrophysics, and the objective nature of science and the subjective nature of being, this work seeks to blur the boundaries and link the outer and the inner cosmos, by interweaving personal narratives and scientific theories. The outcome will be 14 shows of the performance, including the premiere.  The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be still and video documentation of the performances. Grant funds will pay for professional fees, travel and living costs, space hire, equipment hire, local conveyance, documentation costs, material costs and an accountant’s fee. 

For a foundation course in puppetry that seeks to train professional puppeteers in India. The course comes as the culmination of a series of workshops held with traditional and contemporary puppet masters over the past five years. Drawing upon and building on existing discourse around puppetry, this first-of-its-kind course seeks to create a pedagogic model that contextualises Indian puppetry traditions while offering an overview of puppetry from other parts of the world. The course will be implemented between October 2018 and April 2019. The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be still and video documentation from the sessions, video documentation of the performances of the students, journals of the students, evaluation reports by facilitators and external evaluators, and a handbook on the course. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, professional fees, project coordinator’s fee, local conveyance, travel, material and an accountant’s fee.

For working with the cluster of three museums - Goa Chitra, Goa Chakra and Goa Cruti - which narrates the history of Goa through objects, texts and oral histories. This fellowship supports research that will document, disseminate and make accessible, knowledge about objects in the collections through digital and immersive media. Mobile applications created around the collection attempt to not only extend the reach of the museum, but also engage and educate a younger generation steeped in technology and social media. The outcome will be augmented reality workshops, mobile apps and an exhibition of the content created during the workshops. The Fellow’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be process images, audio recordings, images of the exhibition, the apps and a publication, if any.