Mumbai-based artist Ranjit Kandalgaonkar draws upon contemporary visual arts media, archival documentation and historical artifacts to document urban flows. He will spend next week at Harvard as the inaugural Visiting Artist in SAI’s Arts Program.
SAI welcomes applications from emerging artists in South Asia to come to Harvard University to participate in discourse with students and faculty on critical issues.
“More than the political aspect, it is understanding how women cope with the phenomenon of disappearances that appealed to me as a filmmaker,” says director Nilosree Biswas in an interview with SAI on the unique culture of Kashmir.
Indian photographer Pablo Bartholomew has witnessed many of South Asia’s tragedies and triumphs – perhaps most famously the gas tragedy in Bhopal. During his visit to Harvard, SAI sat down with Bartholomew to discuss his photo exhibit, the aftermath of the Bhopal tragedy, how photojournalism is changing, and how his South Asian heritage has influenced his work.
On Friday, Sept. 19, SAI held its inaugural event of the SAI Arts Initiative, with a seminar that explored the role of arts in social change. Cara Moyer-Duncan, Emerson College, and actress Nandita Das discussed the use of cinema in Africa and South Asia as a tool for social activism.
On Thursday, July 31st, film director Kevin Dalvi visited Harvard to screen his film Promise Land as part of SAI’s Annual Summer Film Series. Dalvi engaged in a Q+A with the audience. He discussed obstacles facing many South Asian immigrants, and what it’s like to shoot a full-length feature film with an ensemble cast in just 16 days.
On May 17, 2014, Harvard was reverberating with echoes of poets from different regions of South Asia at the 18th annual South Asian Poets Meeting. Each year, this event attracts poetic talents and wonderful pieces of poetry from diverse regions of South Asia. Twenty-seven poets from India, Bangladesh and Nepal participated in this year’s event. Among the participants from India, there were Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kashmiri, Kannada, Malayali and Oriya recitations.
On December 9th, SAI hosted a film screening of The Good Road, which is India’s official entry for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 Oscars. SAI caught up with the director to discuss his film and the direction of Indian cinema.
On October 28th and October 29th, the South Asia Institute hosted its Annual Mahindra Lecture featuring photographer Raghu Rai. He provided refreshing and honest commentary about his photography, as well as shared his take on everything from politics to religion. On both days, he took time to respond to questions from the audience about his photography and his career in India.