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The Mittal Institute’s 2019–2020 Visiting Artist Fellows

The Mittal Institute’s 2019–2020 Visiting Artist Fellows

Our latest group of Visiting Artist Fellows for the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters has been chosen! Selected from a vast group of applicants, our new artists come from India, Nepal, and Pakistan, and their work represents a multitude of artistic mediums. From the exploration of the human condition to a focus on racial and social identity, our Visiting Artist Fellows plan to spend their time at Harvard researching their interest areas and connecting with faculty, students, and the community to expand on their individual art practices.

Podcast: Art in South Asia

Podcast: Art in South Asia

In our first episode of our Art in South Asia podcast series, we sat down with Sneha Shrestha, the Mittal Institute’s Arts Program Manager, to learn more about the meaning behind her Nepali-inspired work, the most exciting art piece she’s ever worked on, and the Visiting Artist Fellowship, which brings artists from South Asia to the Mittal Institute to perform research and utilize Harvard’s resources.

Visiting Artist Fellowship: Exploring South Asia Through Art and Design

Visiting Artist Fellowship: Exploring South Asia Through Art and Design

Each year, the Mittal Institute welcomes four Visiting Artist Fellows from South Asia to its Cambridge office for eight weeks, connecting them to Harvard University’s vast wealth of intellectual resources. With the applications now open for the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 fellowships and due July 1, 2019, mid-career visual artists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka have the opportunity to perform research at Harvard and interact with faculty and students, exploring critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design.

In Pakistan, Life and Society Become Art

In Pakistan, Life and Society Become Art

“I was born in a very literary family full of artists, poets, and writers. The art was in the blood, and then my uncle, who is also a visual artist internationally recognized, so he basically channeled my interest into visual arts. Since then I have been involved in visual arts,” says Mahbub Jokhio, one of the Mittal Institute’s newest Visiting Artist Fellows for Spring 2019.

Art Exhibition Unveils Partition’s Lasting Legacy

Art Exhibition Unveils Partition’s Lasting Legacy

“In 1947, British India was divided into Pakistan and India, resulting in the largest forced migration in the history of migration. Certain records say there were about three million who migrated and were displaced, but studies done at Harvard show that the numbers were much higher — about 10–13 million people. The question becomes: Who lives to tell the story?” asks Meena Sonea Hewett, Executive Director of the Mittal Institute. “Art as a medium is a great way to tell these stories, because it allows for multiple perspectives to be shared about the Partition and the feelings associated with it.”

Music Tells a Story of Uprising and Grief in Northeast India

Music Tells a Story of Uprising and Grief in Northeast India

The landlocked, extreme northeastern region of India is connected to the rest of the nation via a corridor of land between Bangladesh and Myanmar. In the 1960s, its tribal community rose in an insurgency against the Government of India, with songs their call-to-arms. Mittal Institute Raghunathan Family Fellow Roluahpuia explains how.

Mariam Chughtai: Making and Breaking Identity in Pakistan

Mariam Chughtai: Making and Breaking Identity in Pakistan

For years, Mariam Chughtai has immersed herself in the study of the complex politics of identity, religion, and terrorism in Pakistan. Today, as The Mittal Institute’s Babar Ali fellow, she is writing a book that brings her research and real-world experience in South Asia to life, exploring the tension between the politics and culture of Pakistan to rewrite the narrative that has been erroneously given to the nation.