Category : Arts Program

Climate projections indicate that South Asia will face an increasing number of extremely hot days, posing severe direct and indirect threats to human health and livelihoods. However, traditional temperature measurements—whether from weather stations or satellites—fail to capture the localized effects of extreme heat. Enter the Community Heat Adaptation and Treatment Strategies (CommunityHATS) study, an initiative that follows hundreds of women working in the informal economy across a variety of indoor and outdoor environments in South Asia. Led by researchers from Harvard, in collaboration with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, the Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy (CRDF) at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, the study continuously monitors temperature and humidity around the clock for 13 months to provide a granular understanding of how extreme heat and humidity are truly experienced at the community level.

Masuma Halai Khwaja joins the Mittal Institute this spring as a Visiting Artist Fellow. A visual artist, she explores textiles as a medium to weave together personal memory, diverse histories, and cultural intersections—creating narratives that transcend their origins. Working with fabrics sourced from local flea markets, she integrates embroidery to symbolize the fragmentation of traditions in the face of globalization.

The Mittal Institute is delighted to welcome Abir Abdullah to our cohort of Visiting Artist Fellows this spring. A Bangladeshi photographer and educator, Abir is renowned for his powerful visual storytelling on climate change and human resilience.

Parul Gupta, a visual artist from India, joins the Mittal Institute’s Visiting Artist Fellows program. Her work explores movement in architectural spaces as a catalyst for perceptual experiences, using parallax, geometry, and light to shape spatial interactions.

When Ranjitsinh Disale, an M.Ed. student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, won the Global Teacher Prize 2020 for transforming education for young girls at Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi, Solapur, Maharashtra, India, he made a remarkable gesture. He announced that he would share 50% of his prize money equally among his fellow finalists to support their initiatives, stating, “I believe, together, we can change this world because sharing is growing.”

The Mittal Institute is pleased to welcome Distinguished Artist in Residence Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, a renowned rudra veena player. Ahead of his visit, we spoke with Dagar about how to balance tradition and artistic freedom, the peculiarities of the rudra veena, and what attendees can expect from his performance on Oct. 17, which will be part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).

This spring, the Mittal Institute welcomes two new Visiting Artist Fellows from Lahore, Pakistan – Amra Fatima Khan and Waleed Zafar. Meet Waleed, an interdisciplinary visual artist and curator whose work explores South-Asian identity based on historical, socio-political and genetic markers. Learn about his artistic motivations and save the date for the March 4 Visiting Artist Fellows Art Exhibition.