Lakshmi Nagaraj

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA enables a memory-mapping engagement in Yelahanka New Town. Lakshmi Nagaraj will be the Coordinator for this project. 

Lakshmi Nagaraj is a visual artist based in Bangalore. Having completed her Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a certificate course in Art and Heritage Management, Lakshmi has worked as a curatorial assistant at Gallery Time and Space and at the MKF Museum of Art. She currently works with the ReReeti Foundation in Bangalore. Her art works have been part of group shows at the Studio Next Art Foundation in Delhi, Tasmai Centre for Arts and Culture in Pondicherry and at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity. Given her experience, she is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA. 

For a major part of the 20th century, Bangalore’s population was concentrated in areas like Majestic, KR Market, Shivajinagar as well as major residential areas like Malleshwaram, Basavanagudi and Halasuru. These localities have been part of what has been known as ‘old Bangalore.’ Yelahanka was a town on its own on the fringes of the city. Although this place has existed since the 12th century, it was around the 1970s and 80s that Yelahanka started becoming a part of Bangalore when the city administration wanted to decongest Bangalore by creating smaller, self-contained communities on the outskirts of the city through what they called ‘satellite towns’. Two such major satellite towns were then created – Yelahanka in the North and Kengeri in the West. Situated between Bangalore and Doddaballapur, Yelahanka was an isolated world of its own, defying principles of both cities and the countryside. Today, however, it is seamlessly being integrated into the city of Bangalore. Over the last decade, the neighbourhood has changed almost unrecognisably.  

Lakshmi’s own experience of having lived in Yelahanka and witnessing its rapid transformation is what inspires this project. As part of this project, Lakshmi will attempt to map people’s memories of Yelahanka New Town. ‘What was this place like about 10 - 20 years ago? What did we used to do to keep ourselves entertained? What are the places we made memories in?’ - these are some of the questions she would like to engage with along with the residents of Yelahanka. The people that will be involved in this engagement will be drawn from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and will include both recent and long-time residents. 

To elicit memories of the neighbourhood, Lakshmi will take the participants through two mapping exercises – a) personal memories of the neighbourhood; b) memories of lost establishments. For the former, Lakshmi will print out small maps of Yelahanka and have the participants map their own memories of specific geographies of the neighbourhood by marking points, writing, drawing or even sticking memorabilia, stones, sand, flowers or leaves on these maps. In this way, the residents’ memories will be documented and mapped. For the latter, the memories will be mapped on a large scale physical map of Yelahanka. Current photographs of specific locations will be superimposed with drawings of establishments that used to exist there earlier. 

The outcomes of this project will be an artist book and a public installation in Yelahanka. The artist book will capture the creative process of this project including rough notes and drawings, samples of materials used, people’s memory maps and so on. The public installation will have the large-scale map of lost establishments in Yelahanka along with small maps of people’s personal memories. Audio recordings of conversations with the participants will be played at the venue. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA along with the final reports will be photo and video documentation of process and the public installation, copies of the small maps created by residents and copies of the artist book. 

This project suitably addresses the broad framework of IFA's Project 560 programme in the manner in which it reflects upon and engages with the transformation of Yelahanka and its relationship with the larger city of Bangalore. 

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund and BNP Paribas India.