Workshop Participants

Subrata Nath, Additional Director General, National Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi

Shri Subrata Nath is currently assigned as Additional Director General, National Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi. He did Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Post-Graduation in Public Policy & Management. Before joining National Museum, he was serving Indian Railways as Executive Director (Heritage) (2016-19) looking after conservation and preservation of 150+ years old Railway Industrial heritage in India that include four World Heritage Sites, 150+ heritage buildings and bridges, 400+ preserved rolling stocks and 34 rail museums. Shri Nath has been instrumental in digitization and cultural mapping of Railway heritage in India with M/s Google Art & Culture and bringing them online for public viewing. He has also prepared an inventory of Railway heritage and posted online for easy access. Under his leadership, Indian Railways have developed digital museums in 100 Railway stations to disseminate India’s rich culture through digital media.

Shri Nath also served as first full time Director of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (2007-2009), and the first Industrial site to be designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. He has participated in various national and international workshops and seminars related to preservation and conservation of Cultural and Industrial Heritage in India.

Beside cultural domain, Shri Subrata Nath also served in various positions in Indian Railways and Ministry of Agriculture working in the domain of railway operations & maintenance, agricultural development, climate change etc. He also had several tenures overseas with United Nations Organizations in the capacity of International Advisor. He is currently a professional member of ICOMOS, India.

Ms Rachel Freeman , Associate Conservator, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, United States

Rachel Freeman is a paper conservator at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. Prior to moving to Missouri, she worked for The Art Institute of Chicago and the Balboa Art Conservation Center, San Diego, CA. Rachel’s previous publications and research interests include South and South East Asian palm leaf manuscripts, the papers and a printing matrix by Jose Guadalupe Posada, Edouard Manet’s prints, drawings and pastels, and Chinese New Year’s prints. She is currently part of a team of conservators and curators writing for an online catalogue of the French paintings and pastels at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and she is looking into the materiality of the museum’s pages from the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh. Rachel graduated in 2004 with a Master of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo’s training program in art conservation (internships included the Balboa Art Conservation Center, Museums of New Mexico, and Heugh-Edmonson Conservation Services). There was a long hiatus between entering graduate school and earing her BA at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. During those years she worked in Japan; studied in Florence, Italy; and enjoyed a fabulous introduction to paper conservation and preservation of all manner of things as a technician at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin.
Rachel is a professional associate in the American Institute for Conservation and has served as co-chair for Art on Paper Discussion Group and the Book and Paper Group Wiki.

Dr. Darielle Mason, The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art and Head of the Department of South Asian Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Darielle Mason has been The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art and Head of the Department of South Asian Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for more than two decades. She is also adjunct Professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Pennsylvania from where she holds a PhD focused on the architecture and sculpture of 9^th-11^th century Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh (research supported by an AIIS Fellowship). Prior to returning to Philadelphia, Mason was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where was responsibile for the South and Southeast Asian, ‘Islamic,’ and Tibetan collections. Her exhibitions, lectures, and publications span South Asia’s arts from ancient to contemporary. Among more than fifty museum exhibitions are Gods, Guardians, and Lovers: Temple Sculpture from Northern India, A.D. 700-1200 (1993, Asia Society Museum), Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001), and Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal(2009, winner of the College Art Association’s Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for outstanding museum scholarship). She lead the transformation of Philadelphia’s South Asian Art galleries (opened 2016), breaking traditional museum boundaries of time and geography to explore regionally and universally relevant themes. Recently she was a member of the curatorial team that reinvented the Seattle Asian Art Museum along similar, but pan-Asian lines (opened 2020). Current projects include a publication on the complicated history and historiography of the “Madurai Mandapam,” an ensemble of architectural carvings that has stood in the Philadelphia Museum of Art for over a century.

Dr. Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Formerly President and CEO, Asia Society, New York

Dr. Vishakha N. Desai is Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University, Senior Research Scholar at its School of International and Public Affairs, and Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University.

From 1990 through 2012, Dr. Desai served in various capacities at the Asia Society, ranging from being Director if its museum, to being the President and CEO of the organization from 2004. She is widely credited with introducing contemporary Asian arts through major exhibitions and publications. A noted scholar of South Asian Art and history, Dr. Desai is well known for her leadership in presenting contemporary Asian art to American audiences and in developing innovative approaches to the relationship between culture and foreign policy in India, China and other Asian countries. In 2012, in recognition of Dr. Desai’s leadership in the museum field, President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the National Museum and Library Services Board.

In addition to several publications, Dr. Desai is also a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines in both the US and Asia, and her forthcoming memoir, “World as Family: A story of Multi-rooted Belonging,” will be published by Columbia University press in early 2021.

Dr. Desai is the recipient of five honorary degrees and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bombay University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Waman Anandrao Wankhede, Assistant Curator Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh

Dr. Waman Anandrao Wankhede is Assistant Curator at the Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj. He has sixteen years of experience as a Guide Lecturer and seven years of experience in museum curation. At the Allahabad Museum, he is responsible for stone sculptures, decorative art and archival collections. He has curated exhibitions such as News Clippings and Photographs of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (2005-2006) and Shiva in Indian Art (2015-16). He coordinates outreach programs for school children. He has authored Madhya Ganga Ghati Me Prapt Kolhuo Me Samajik Aivam Prakritik Chitran (2002).

Waman has a PhD on Buddhist Terracotta in Middle-Ganga Valley (4th century CE to 6th century CE) and a MA Archaeology from Nagpur University, Maharashtra.

Dr. Jyoti Tokas, Curator, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi

Dr. Jyoti Tokas is Curator (In-charge exhibitions) at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. She has more than ten years of experience in curation. Her recent exhibitions include ITIHAAS (2017), Dandi Yatra (2018) and Songs of the Un-caged Bird (2018). She was also a part of the curatorial team for the permanent exhibition, In the Seeds of Time at NGMA, Delhi (2009) and the opening of NGMA Bengaluru in 2009. She has also held curatorial roles at the IGNCA, Delhi and the National Museum and was a Research Scholar at the Lalit Kala Akademi. She has a deep interest in cultural heritage.

Jyoti has a PhD in Museology from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi, a Masters in Conservation Preservation and Heritage Management from I.P. University, Delhi and a BA, History from the University of Delhi.

Neeraj Thakur, Assistant Curator, Himachal State Museum, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Neeraj Thakur is Assistant Curator at the Himachal State Museum, Shimla. He is responsible for documentation, cataloging, accessioning and preventive care of antiquities. Prior to joining the museum, he was an Assistant Professor (Guest Faculty) at the Himachal Pradesh University Regional Centre, Dharamshala. He was a Curator for the All India Art Exhibition and the Arts & Crafts Fair in March 2020 at the Himachal State Museum Shimla (2019-2020). He has a keen interest in the Himalayan region’s art, archaeology and culture.

Neeraj has a MPhil in History (Archaeological Study of Nirmand) and a MA in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from Himachal Pradesh University. He has BA, History from the Centre of Excellence College, Shimla.

Pema Kesang Sherpa, Branch Inspector, Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Government of Sikkim, Namchi, Sikkim

Pema Kesang is Associate Curator at the upcoming museum in the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Sikkim. She has over eight years of experience in museum curation. She curated the exhibition Ehsaas: Senses and Images(2002). Prior to joining the state government, she worked at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust (2004-2005) and was in-charge of The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT) Museum in Sikkim (2014-2020). At NIT, she documented and digitized the NIT collection and incorporated it into the North-East Heritage portal through JATAN.

Pema has a MA in Museology from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi and BA, English from the University of North Bengal, West Bengal.

Krishna Shekhawat, Assistant Curator Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Krishna Shekhawat is Assistant Curator at Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur. She is developing the narrative for its museum redesign project. Prior to this, she was a Teaching Fellow for History at Ashoka University, Haryana. With over five years of experience, she provides curation advice and expertise to eminent collections such as Mahmudabad, Gyan Museum, Bhadrajun and Karauli. Her exhibition Karbala: Beyond Religious Boundaries (2018) won the Outstanding Project Award at Ashoka University. She authored a chapter in Waters of Western Rajasthan: Myths, Tradition, Life and Livelihood (2020).

Krishna has a BA in History from Miranda House, University of Delhi and was Young India Fellow at Ashoka University.

Chelsea Santos, Assistant Curator The City Palace Museum, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Chelsea Santos is Assistant Curator at The City Palace Museum, Udaipur, with over two years of experience in the field. She has been a part of several curatorial projects at her museum, including exhibitions and research on photographs. She is actively involved in the curation of the social media, digital events and outreach programs of the museum and is currently working on publishing a series of child-friendly books.

Chelsea has a MA and a BA in Ancient Indian History, Culture, and Archaeology from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a PG Diploma in Museology and Conservation from CSMVS, Mumbai.

Dr. Kishore Raghubans, Assistant Archaeologist (Museum In-charge) with additional charge of Underwater Archaeology Wing, Archaeological Museum, Velha Goa, Goa

Dr. Kishore Raghubans is the Museum in-charge at the Archaeological Museum, Velha Goa, with additional charge of the Underwater Archaeology Wing, Goa. He has over four years of experience in museum curation. His area of specialization is Ancient Mines and Metallurgy, Geo-Archaeological Studies, Pre and Proto History of India, Ethnographic and Experimental studies, Deccan Sultanate Water System and Museum Curation. He has authored a book, Dynamics of Settlement Patterns in the Shekhawati Region of Rajasthan (2014).

Kishore has a PhD and Masters in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology (with specialization in Anthropology) from MSU, Baroda, a PG Diploma in Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi and Graduation in Chemistry from the University of Bombay.

Shubhasree Purkayastha, Education Officer Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, Karnataka

Shubhasree Purkayastha is Education Officer at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bengaluru. Prior to joining MAP, Shubhasree was a Curatorial Assistant at the Sarmaya Arts Foundation, Mumbai and was a part of the Outreach team at the National Museum, New Delhi. She was awarded the Archival and Museum Research Fellowship by the India Foundation for the Arts to curate an exhibition around the Pre-Ahom collection of the State Museum, Guwahati (2016-17).

Shubhasree has a MPhil in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU, New Delhi and a MA in Art History from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi.

Pavithra Muddaya, Managing Trustee and Chief Curator, Vimor Museum of Living Textiles–Vimor Handloom Foundation, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Pavithra is the Managing Trustee of the Vimor Handloom Foundation established in 2004 and the Chief Curator of the Vimor Museum of Living Textiles in Bengaluru. She has helped weavers grow financially for 45 years and has worked with the Ministry of Textiles as a freelance designer and to implement the Tantavi project (2019) to document traditional handloom textiles. She has been cited by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Awards for creating new avenues for the weaving communities of India through design and market intervention (2002-03). Pavithra curated handloom textiles for the India–South Africa Shared History exhibition in Johannesburg (2008). In 2019 she was one of the participants at the Sustainable Indian Fashion symposium at The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.

Pavithra graduated in Law from Bangalore University, Bengaluru.

Ritwika Misra, Project Manager, Weavers Studio, Kolkata, West Bengal

Ritwika Misra is Project Manager at the Weavers Studio, Kolkata for a multi-year project on the textiles of undivided Bengal. She is responsible for research, exhibition development and stakeholder management for the project. Previously, she worked as Assistant Archivist at the visual archives of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) for four years. She was a part of the curatorial team for the exhibitions Accessing the Archive (2016) and City in the Archive (2017). She was also a Research Assistant for Objects, Media Practices, Aesthetics and Politics: Material Histories and Cultural Imaginaries, India 1940-1960, a project of the Max Weber Stiftung.
Ritwika has a MPhil in Social Sciences from CSSSC, and MA & BA in History from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

Moumita Ghosh, Curator (Collection), Bihar Museum, Patna, Bihar

Moumita Ghosh is Curator at Bihar Museum, under Art, Culture and Youth Department, Bihar Government. She has over a decade of experience in Collection Management, Curation and other museum related works. Before joining the Bihar Museum, she worked at the Indian Museum, Allahabad Museum and Lord Cultural Resources in different curatorial capacities. She was awarded the Small Study and Research Grant (India) 2013 for ‘Ivory Carving Tradition from Murshidabad’ from the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Moumita has a MA in Museology and BA (Hons.) in History from the University of Calcutta.

Avijna Bhattacharya, Associate Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi

Avijna Bhattacharya is Associate Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi. For over a decade, she has been involved in various curatorial and writing projects on modern and contemporary art. She was part of the curatorial team for the online exhibition City Tales: Crisis. Care. Catharsis for KNMA (2020). Her recent publications include Outbound and Seeking the Untranslatable (2020) and Soliloquy of an Irrational Deportee (2017) published in Hakara Journal.
Avijna has a MA in Art Criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda and BFA in Art History from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan.

Dr. Baishali Ghosh, Curator Museum, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, West Bengal

Baishali Ghosh is Curator of the Museum at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. She has over six years of experience in curating and has worked in the museum field for over a decade. She has authored several articles in national and international journals and is the author of two books. Under her supervision, the painting restoration project, funded by the Central Government, was executed by NRLC, Lucknow.
Baishali has a PhD in Museology from Calcutta University with a specialization in museum management and was awarded Gold Medal for first rank in MS Museology. She also has a Diploma in Fine Arts.

Moumita Dhar, Assistant Curator, Section Head (Pre-Historic Archaeology), National Museum, New Delhi

Moumita Dhar is Assistant Curator, Section head of Pre-Historic Archaeology section and collection in-charge of the Indus Valley Civilization and Pre-Historic Stone tools at the National Museum, New Delhi, since 2016. At the National Museum she has had curatorial responsibilities and also arranges educational and outreach program. In 2019, she participated in a training program on ‘Sharing stories on Contested Histories’ in Amsterdam, organized by the Cultural Heritage agency of Netherlands.
Moumita has a PG Diploma in Museology, a MPhil in Archaeology from Jiwaji University, Gwalior and BE from The University of Kalyani, West Bengal.

Ruta Waghmare Baptista, Assistant Curator–Education & Collections, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Ruta Waghmare Baptista is Assistant Curator heading the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum’s education activities, collections research, and management. She is in charge of the Docent program at the Museum. Ruta joined the Museum in 2013 and has assisted with the Museum’s historic and contemporary art exhibitions. She manages and strategizes content for audience engagement on the museum’s social media platforms.
Ruta has a MA in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from Deccan College, Pune, a MA in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development from the University of Turin, ITC-ILO, Italy, and a BA in History from the University of Mumbai.

Dr. Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art, The Art Institute of Chicago

Madhuvanti Ghose is the Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art at the Art Institute of Chicago where she is responsible for the exhibition, collection, preservation and research of the museum’s permanent collections in these areas. She has curated and organized a series of exhibitions including the site-specific Public Notice 3 by Jitish Kallat (2010–11); The Last Harvest: The Art of Rabindranath Tagore (2012); Zarina: Paper Like Skin (2013); Nilima Sheikh: Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams (2014); Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings (2015–2016); Vanishing Beauty: Asian Jewelry and Ritual Objects from the Barbara and David Kipper Collection (2016); India Modern: The Paintings of M.F. Husain (2017–18) and Ornamental Traditions: Jewelry from Bukhara (2018–2019). Her latest exhibit is Adornment: Jewelry of South Asia’s Nomadic Cultures (2019–20).

Between 2012–16 Ghose led the Vivekananda Memorial Program for Museum Excellence with the Government of India that was designed to foster professional exchanges between the Art Institute and various museums in India. It resulted in the introduction of the JATAN program across ten museums of India and the creation of the Museums of India web portal. Ghose serves on the executive committee of the board of trustees of the American Association of Art Museum Curators and is Vice President of its Governance and Nominating Committee. She is currently the recipient of the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) fellowship (Class of 2020).

Ghose has a Ph.D. from London University and was previously Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.

Purnima Mehta, Director General, American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS)

Purnima Mehta, who has served as AIIS Director-General for the past fifteen years, oversees all AIIS operations in India, including: the management of its intensive language programs, located at multiple sites in India; the two AIIS research centers–the Center for Art and Archaeology and the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology; support of AIIS research and performing and creative arts fellows; and overall responsibility for the relationship of the Institute with the Government of India, the educational network in India and the U.S. Embassy. Under the direction of Mrs. Mehta, the AIIS language programs have expanded exponentially in the previous decade, providing instruction in up to sixteen Indian languages to nearly 300 students each year. She has been pivotal in the AIIS effort to provide enhanced services to U.S. study abroad programs in India and to expand opportunities for a diverse range of students in the U.S. to engage in service learning projects with Indian NGOs.

Mrs. Mehta has been distinguished by inclusion in The Economist’s list of Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life in 2015.

Anjali Bharthari, Independent Heritage Interpreter & Consultant, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Anjali Bharthari is an independent Heritage Interpreter & Consultant. Over the last 25 years, she has worked on conservation of nature and culture by creating dialogues between communities in environment conservation and cultural heritage. She brings the two together by curating exhibitions for museums, running outreach and training programs and writing books. Her research work, documentation projects and publications cover topics such as Jim Corbett, Forest Rest Houses of Uttarakhand and national parks. She specializes in interpretation and has worked on various natural and cultural heritage projects including the World Heritage site of Nalanda, Bihar.

Anjali has a MA Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia University and MSc Environment & Ecology from Institute of Environment & Ecology, New Delhi.

Dr. Susan S. Bean, Chair AIIS, Center for Art and Archaeology, former Senior Curator, South Asian Art, Peabody Essex Museum

Susan S. Bean, Ph.D. is an independent scholar and curator specializing in the visual arts of modern South Asia. She is currently chair of the Art & Archaeology Center of the American Institute of Indian Studies in Gurugram, India, and an Associate of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. She was senior curator for South Asian and Korean art at the Peabody Essex Museum until her retirement in 2012. Previously she was associate professor of anthropology at Yale University, and held visiting positions at Columbia University, Brown University and Wellesley College. At the Peabody Essex Museum she acquired the Herwitz Collection of Modern & Contemporary Indian Art and reconceived the South Asian collection as the first in the U.S. to focus on art from colonial times to the present. Dr. Bean has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. More at www.susanbean.com

Dr. Sumathi Ramaswamy, James B Duke Professor of History, and International Comparative Studies Chair, Department of History, Duke University, Durham, U.S.A.

Sumathi Ramaswamy is James B Duke Professor of History at Duke University and Co-Director of Duke’s India Initiative. She has published extensively on language politics, gender studies, spatial studies and the history of cartography, visual studies and the modern history of art, and more recently, digital humanities and the history of philanthropy. Her most recent monograph is titled Terrestrial Lessons: The Conquest of the World as Globe (University of Chicago, Press, 2017). She is the winner of numerous scholarly awards including from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. She is currently working on a book on the shifting contours of educational philanthropy in colonial and modern India, and on a collaborative digital humanities project titled “No Parallel? The Fatherly Bodies of Gandhi and Mao.”

Dr. Debra Diamond, Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

A specialist in Indian court painting and the visual culture of yoga, Debra Diamond received her PhD in South Asian Art History from Columbia University in 2000. At the Smithsonian, her exhibitions have included Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia (ongoing); Yoga: The Art of Transformation (2013), which received two First Place Awards of Excellence from the Association of Art Museum curators, Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur; the exhibition catalog for which won the 2010 Alfred H. Barr, Jr. award for best museum scholarship.

Dr. Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian Art, Columbia University, New York

Vidya Dehejia is Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian Art at Columbia University in New York, and author of a range of books on the history of Indian art that connect the literary and visual arts in meaningful ways. Her recent publications include The Unfinished. Indian Stone Carvers at Work (2016), The Body Adorned (2012), The Sensuous & the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India (2002), Discourse in Early Buddhist Art (1997). Between 1994-2002, she served as Chief Curator & Deputy Director of the Freer & Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and as Acting Director in 2001-2002. In 2016, she presented the 65^th annual A.W. Mellon lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery in Washington DC, a series in which the art of India was featured for the very first time in its 65-year history. The set of six lectures was titled “Thief Who Stole my Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280,” and is currently under publication with Princeton University Press. In 2012, the President of India awarded her a Padma Bhushan for “Outstanding Contribution to Art & Education.”

David Kennedy, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, The Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi

David Kennedy, career member of the Senior Foreign Service, has served in a wide range of public diplomacy positions. He joined USIA as an exhibit guide for the “Information USA” exhibit that toured the USSR from 1987-89, then joined USIA as a career foreign service officer in 1990. He served in Islamabad and Moscow before taking a leave of absence to remain working in Moscow before rejoining the Foreign Service in 2002. He has since served in India as Information Officer, Geneva with the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, as the Regional Director for Public Diplomacy in Baghdad, the Public Affairs Officer for all four Ambassadors at the U.S. Mission to the UN in Geneva, the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Mazar-e Sharif, and most recently as Public Affairs Officer in Addis Ababa. David has an AB from Harvard College in Russian History and Language, an MA in Russian and East European Studies from The George Washington University, and an Executive MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is married to Kristen Easter who is currently working with USAID in New Delhi. They have three sons. Two have graduated from college and one is a sophomore at Tufts University.

Raghvendra Singh, Secretary and CEO, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Government of India

Raghvendra Singh is currently Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Government of India. He is also the Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (New Delhi). He has, in the past, been the Director General of the National Archives of India, New Delhi and of the National Library, Kolkata.

Raghvendra Singh served in the sector of Tourism and Culture for over a decade providing fillip specifically to conservation and museology. Over twenty iconic buildings were restored directly under his supervision. National Gallery of Modern Art, British Barracks at Red Fort and the Old Currency Building (Kolkata) are just a few cases in point. He curated over 25 permanent exhibitions, museums and galleries, of which some examples are that of Maan Mahal (Varanasi), Metcalfe Hall (Kolkata), National Museum of Indian Cinema (Mumbai) and the Victoria Memorial Hall (Kolkata).

His passion to refurbish old structures and thereafter create museums and permanent exhibitions in them has encouraged the movement of Museology, as yet nascent in India. He plans to extend this initiative to cities like Gwalior, Bhopal, Lucknow, Jammu, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and many such others.

His book “India’s Lost Frontier”, on the North West Frontier Province was released in August 2019. Three more book projects are on the anvil: on Gilgit-Baltistan (Jammu & Kashmir); on Baluchistan Kalat and on Syama Prasad Mukherjee.

Dr. Keka Banerjee Adhikari, Curator, Museum, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, West Bengal

Keka Banerjee Adhikari is Curator of the Museum at the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She has worked in different State and Central Government museums, has presented papers at various national and international seminars and conferences and published articles in leading journals on subjects of archaeology, art history and museum curation.

Keka has a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta on Sculptural Art of Chhattisgarh: Historical, Cultural & Stylistic Analysis and was awarded the University Gold Medal for first rank with First Class in MSc Archaeology.

Dr. Vishi Upadhyay, Curatorial Associate, Collection Unit (Art, Culture and Youth Department), Bihar Museum, Patna, Bihar

Vishi Upadhyay is Curatorial Associate at the Bihar Museum, Patna, Department of Art, Culture and Youth, Government of Bihar. She is engaged with collection care, exhibitions, publications and public learning programs. She has published seventeen research papers, two books and presented research papers at several national and international conferences. She is interested in landscape archaeology, museology, art and architecture and numismatics. In 2019, Vishi was selected by the British Museum, London for international training programmes and was also selected by ICOM and Palace museum for International training course in Yixing, China.

Vishi has a MA and a Ph.D. in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from RTM Nagpur University.

Dr. Aprajita Sharma, Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), New Delhi

Aprajita Sharma works at the Museum Division of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. She was involved with several ASI projects and exhibitions including the Gallery of Confiscated and Retrieved Antiquities in Purana Qilain Delhi; the Museum on Mahatma Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune; Hoard of Chinese Porcelain – A Rare Discovery from Firoz Shah Kotla; Kesavinyasa – Hairstyles in Ancient Indian Art and Treasures of Ancient China. She is interested in archaeology, museums, Chinese porcelain and maritime trade.

Aprajita has a Ph.D. from Assam University, Silchar on Chinese Porcelain in India: Archaeology, Maritime Trade and Historical Significance.

Darshan Mekani Shah, Director & Founder Trustee, Weavers Studio, Kolkata & Weavers Studio Resource Center, Kolkata, West Bengal

Darshan Shah established the Weavers Studio in 1993 in Kolkata with the mission statement “use as many hands as possible”. Her journey with handcrafted textiles traces the success story organically and her textile revival efforts were presented through the book and exhibition titled Baluchars: The Woven Narrative Silks of Bengal. She is in the process of developing an international exhibition and publication on Textiles of Undivided Bengal. She is keen to upgrade her expertise in textiles and learn about good curatorial practices.

Darshan completed a Diploma at IIM, Ahmedabad and started her career with Hindustan Lever Limited followed by a job with Apple Computer Inc.

Shruti Ramlingaiah, Independent Curator and Writer, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Shruti Ramlingaiah is an independent curator and art writer based in Mumbai. In the past five years, she has worked at the Mehrangarh Museum, Jodhpur and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. She was a co-curator for the third edition of the Students’ Biennale, an initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, in 2018. She was a recipient of the Getty Foundation travel grant to Stockholm in 2018 and EYES Project fellow awarded by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo in 2019.

Shruti has a MA Museology from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat and MFA Art History and Visual Studies from SN School of Communication and Arts, University of Hyderabad.

Sayali Mundye, Outreach and Programming, Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Sayali Mundye handles Outreach and Programming at the Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai. She began her journey with museums with an internship at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in 2013. Sayali is a trained artist, a museum professional and an ardent lover of all things culture. She has successfully led projects like The Public Art Programme and Spotlighters. She has a keen interest in discovering ideas, exploring new facets of art and developing those into programs. Her research areas include exploring the relationship between art and mental health, art and society, and the role of cultural institutions in building art awareness.

Sayali has a BFA from Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Art, Mumbai and a certificate in Critical Thinking & Indian Aesthetics from KR Cama Institute, Mumbai.

Dr. Munmun Mondal, Curator, H.H. Maharaja Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Museum, Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

Munmun Mondal is Curator at the H.H. Maharaja Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Museum, Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior. She has over ten years of experience in research, publication, and outreach activities across India. She researched on Bengal paintings at the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Bodleian Library at Oxford as a Charles Wallace Fellow. She is interested in museums, heritage, archaeology, photography and traveling.

Munmun has a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta and has done two years of Post-Doctoral research with fellowships from the Indian Council of Historical Research and the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Manoj Kumar, Curator, Archaeological Museum, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand

Manoj Kumar is Curator at the Archaeological Museum, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, which is the oldest and largest university museum in India. He was the site and antiquities in-charge of Rakhigarhi, an archaeological site in Haryana. He also directed and documented excavations at Garhi Shyampur, Rishikesh. He was one of the curators of the exhibition on Kurkihar Bronzes for the National Museum.

Manoj has a Master’s degree with specialization in Archaeology from Patna University, Bihar and was awarded PGDA from the Institute of Archaeology, ASI, New Delhi in 1999.

Vaishnavi Kambadur, Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Vaishnavi Kambadur is the Curatorial Assistant at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru and researches on textile and craft collections, as well as permanent and special exhibitions. Her most recent project includes a virtual exhibition, No Two Motifs are Alike, on Google Arts & Culture. Previously, she held internships at Christie’s New York, and teaching and research positions at The New School in New York. Her recent research interests include the connections between the materiality of cloth, class and culture and the history of Indian trade textiles.

Vaishnavi is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, New York and received a MA in Fashion Studies from The New School.

Dr. Tara Nath Dowarah, Curator, Anthropological Museum of Indigenous Peoples, Department of Anthropology, Dibrugarh University. Dibrugarh, Assam

Tara Nath Dowarah is Curator at the Anthropological Museum of Indigenous Peoples, Dibrugarh University, Assam. He has participated in several regional, national and international seminars, workshops and has authored various research papers. He is the author of the book, Ethnic Resurgence among the Tai Ahoms of Assam (2016). His research interest is in the material culture of the indigenous communities of North East India. He is a part of a research project, Bamboo Culture in North East India, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Tara Nath has a MSc and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Dibrugarh University, Assam. He has also trained at NRLC, Lucknow.

Dr. Suruchika Chawla, Supervisor of Projects, Promotion and Execution, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Chandigarh, Haryana

Suruchika Chawla is the Supervisor of Projects at the Archaeology and Museums Department, Haryana. For over a decade, she has worked in the field as a teacher, curator and museum professional. She developed downloadable teaching aids for the National Museum website and conducts workshops for children on archaeological learning. In 2018, she participated in the International Training Program sponsored by the British Museum, and in 2019, she took part in the ITP+ Course on Museums and Education held at CSMVS Mumbai. She is a member of ICOM and Museum Association of India. She is interested in promotion, display, and exhibition planning.

Suruchika has a Ph.D. in Archaeology and Ancient History from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat.

Zahid Ali Ansari, Deputy Curator (Arms & Armours) and In-charge of Decorative Arts, National Museum, New Delhi

Zahid Ali Ansari is the Deputy Curator of the Arms and Armours gallery at the National Museum, New Delhi. He was previously a Museum Curator at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad (2007-14), and Assistant Curator in Decorative Arts (2014-18). He had curatorial responsibilities in different exhibitions at the National Museum such as The Art of Calligraphy and Beyond – Arabic and Persian Inscriptions on Decorative Arts Object. He is also a member of INC-ICOM and a life member of the Museum Association of India.

Zahid has a MA Museology and History and a Certificate of Proficiency in Arabic Language.

Samira Bose, Programmes Coordinator, Asia Art Archive in India, New Delhi

Samira Bose is the Programmes Coordinator at the Asia Art Archive in India, an independent non-profit dedicated to documenting and making accessible recent histories of art from across Asia. Previously, she was Programmer and in-house Critic at Dharti Arts Residency 2019 (Serendipity Arts Foundation), and on the core team for Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018. She is currently thinking about the interstices and excess in archives, collections and libraries, and the forms in which these can be circulated and exhibited.

Samira completed her MA Arts & Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has a BA History from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Deepak Bharathan Alathur, Assistant Curator and In-charge of Paintings Section, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Deepak Bharathan Alathur is Assistant Curator at Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, where he is in-charge of the Paintings section. He has over ten years of work experience in the museum field. He was previously a Research Scholar at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi, and a Curator at the Sir Jiwajirao Scindia Palace Museum, Gwalior. He also interned at the British Library, United Kingdom, in 2012. He is interested in miniature paintings, museum display and participative visitor experiences.

Deepak has a MA Museology from National Museum Institute, New Delhi and MLIS from TISS, Mumbai.

Nataraja

Roobina Karode is the Director & Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India. As an art educator, writer and curator, Karode has contributed to the field for over twenty five years. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions on Indian artists in USA, Japan, Paris, Madrid and Italy. Recently, she was appointed the curator for the national pavilion of India at the ongoing Venice Biennale. As the director and chief curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art since its inception, her broad vision for the Museum is focused on bridging the disconnect between art and the larger public through curated exhibitions, a well-researched and documented KNMA Collection to further research, develop new perspectives and to diversify educational and public engagement. Steering a rigorous program at KNMA, Karode is focused on collaborations and partnering with other significant institutions to consolidate the global presence and relevance of contemporary Indian/South Asian art. In 2016, Karode was the recipient of the INDIA TODAY, best curator award for the year.

Roobina Karode, Director & Chief Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi

Roobina Karode is the Director & Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India. As an art educator, writer and curator, Karode has contributed to the field for over twenty five years. She has curated and co-curated exhibitions on Indian artists in USA, Japan, Paris, Madrid and Italy. Recently, she was appointed the curator for the national pavilion of India at the ongoing Venice Biennale. As the director and chief curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art since its inception, her broad vision for the Museum is focused on bridging the disconnect between art and the larger public through curated exhibitions, a well-researched and documented KNMA Collection to further research, develop new perspectives and to diversify educational and public engagement. Steering a rigorous program at KNMA, Karode is focused on collaborations and partnering with other significant institutions to consolidate the global presence and relevance of contemporary Indian/South Asian art. In 2016, Karode was the recipient of the INDIA TODAY, best curator award for the year.

Jagdip Jagpal, Fair Director at India Art Fair

Jagdip Jagpal is the Director of India Art Fair, where she is responsible for the strategic and curatorial enhancement of the fair, as well as expanding activities in India and internationally. She has successfully delivered two editions of the fair which is internationally acknowledged as the leading arts event in the region. Prior to moving to India she worked for major UK not-for-profits institutions on South Asia and Africa art projects. A former trustee of the Wallace Collection in London, her museum experience also includes managing international partnerships and programmes at Tate. She is currently a governor of the London School of Economics and lives in New Delhi.

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