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South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
South Asian Art History Student Symposium
University of Victoria
June 04, 2022
9:30-10:00: Welcome coffee
10:00-10:05: Dr. Melia Belli Bose, Associate Professor of South Asian Art History and Visual
Studies: territorial acknowledgement and opening remarks
10:05-10:10: Dr. Marcus Millwright, Professor of Islamic Art History and Archaeology, Chair
AHVS
10:10-10:15: Dr. Catherine Harding, Associate Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Art
History, AHVS Graduate Advisor
10:15-10:20: Dr. Allana Lindgren, Dean of Fine Arts
10:20-11:00: Plenary Address: Dr. Dulma Karunarathna, “Status of Women as Depicted in
Andhra Art Tradition of South Asia”
11:00-12:20: Panel I: Visualizing Identity: Bodies, Buildings, Textiles, Belonging, and
Community
What do works of art (buildings, textiles, films) tell us about how patrons and/or their makers see
themselves and seek to be seen? How do these works of visual culture relate to place, politics,
and consumption?
11:00-11:15: Dr. Munazzah Akhtar, “Making and Faking Kinship: Re-examining Mubarak
Khan’s Mausoleum at Makli, Sindh”
11:15-11:30: Randip Bakshi, “Identity and Integration: Arthur Erickson and the Ross Street Sikh
Temple”
11:30-11:45: Chloe Tibert, “Refashioning Phulkari and Kantha: Affect, Nostalgia, &
Revitalization of Traditional South Asian Embroidery”
11:45-12:00: Terhi Hannula, “Lone Heroes in War: Muscular Hindu Nationalism in Bollywood
Cinema”
12:00-12:20: Q&A
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
12:20-1:00: Lunch
Special thanks to Fig Mediterranean Deli for providing lunch!
1:00-2:30: Dr. Rebecca M. Brown, Keynote/Orion Lecture in Fine Arts: “Modern Ecologies: KCS
Paniker’s Painted Gardens”
2:30-3:30: Panel II: Art in Tumultuous Times: Remembering, Rebuilding, Resisting
Can art assist in reckoning with loss, granting agency, and healing?
2:30-2:45: Shruti Parthasarathy, “Navigating Identity through Visual Art in the Wake of Partition:
A Case Study”
2:45-3:00: Amina Ejaz and Zohreen Murtaza, “Post 9/11: Exquisite Violence and the Absent
Body in the Works of Pakistani Artists”
3:00-3:15: Roopa Kanal, “Globalism, Politics, and Democracy: the Artivism of Ashmina Ranjit”
3:15-3:30: Q&A
3:30-3:45 Break
3:45-4:30: Panel III: Organizing and Ordering Public Spaces
How do gatherings of people interact with planned spaces and public art? How do such spaces
facilitate exchanges of information? What happens to such spaces and artworks when the urban
fabric in which they are situated changes?
3:45-4:00: Sameena Siddiqui, “Confronting Exhibitionary Order: Regional Colonial Exhibitions
and Mela (fair) Spaces in Cantonment Towns of United Provinces, North India 1880-1940s”
4:00-4:15: Amena Sharmin and Himaloya Saha, “Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture: What
Will Happen?”
4:15-4:30: Q&A
3|Page
4:30-5:35: Panel IV: Seeing the Sacred: Experiencing Religious Art in South Asian Cities From richly decorated, grand temples, mosques, and churches, to modest neighborhood shrines and darghas, to festival processions, visual art of many different faiths is ubiquitous throughout urban South Asia. Throughout the subcontinent, the faithful go to sites of worship and sacred imagery comes to them. 4:30-4:45: Ambreen Shehzad Hussaini, “Beyond Content: An Invitation to Experience the Essence of the Qur’anic Text through Non-Legible Abstract Calligraphy Art Form” 4:45-5:00: Mohammad Zaki Rezwan, “Devotion in Motion: The Image of Islam in Rickshaw Art of Bangladesh” 5:00-5:20: Neha Munshi, “Evoking the Sacred: Shiva Nataraja in Indian Art” 5:20-5:35: Q&A South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
Dr. Rebecca M. Brown
Johns Hopkins University
Professor and Chair, Department of the History of Art
Modern Ecologies: KCS Paniker’s Painted Gardens
Abstract
One can almost hear the
cacophony of parakeets
as their green bodies
punctuate the branches
of a tamarind tree. In
another work, a dog,
somewhat emaciated,
back curved, stares out
at us from a milky grey-
blue background. In
another, a cheery
octopus cavorts in the
curve of a river; over
here, monkeys hang
from branches in a
crowded field of pink and
blue pastel vegetation.
The paintings of Madras-
based artist KCS Paniker
from the 1960s and
1970s explode with
vibrant life, both vegetal
and animal. They often, and in the same painting, overwhelm us with written symbols and
passages of what look like text. Thus, Paniker’s work is not landscape painting, nor is it a critical
rethinking of the long global history of animal studies from the turkey portrait by the 17th-century
Mughal artist Mansur to the staged birds of the Audubon Society. Paniker’s work does not depict
nature in any imaginary pure state, instead giving us a pruned, selected vision of trees, animals,
birds, and plants alongside the marks humans make to seek understanding of the world: math
equations, astrological diagrams, textual scrawls, magic symbols. I read his work as outlining an
ecology of human-animal-plant mutuality, one that presents painted, curated “gardens.” In these
works, we can see the embedded dependencies of the modern—dependence of the human and
non-human, yes, and also dependence on the languages of modern painting itself: birds, color, a
tree, a symbol, a dog, a chart, a monkey, a line. Paniker drew from a long history of exploring
these intersections in modern art alongside the history of engagements with the animal, the
human, and the otherworldly in a range of South Asian contexts. His paintings offer us the
“modern” through an ecology of painted gardens.
5|Page
Biography Rebecca M. Brown is Professor and Chair of the Department of the History of Art and Chair of the Advanced Academic Programs in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management at Johns Hopkins University. Brown’s research engages in the history of art, architecture, and visual culture of South Asia from the late eighteenth century to the present. She has published numerous articles and three books on the early British presence on the subcontinent, the anti-colonial movement of the early twentieth century, art in the decades after India’s independence in 1947, and the economic and political machinations of the long 1980s. Her current research focuses on the painter KCS Paniker (1911–77) and his use of illegible writing on his paintings from the 1960s and 1970s. She is also working on the photographic practice of Dayanita Singh and Annu Matthew, as well as the work of Rina Banerjee. She has served as a consultant and a curator of modern and contemporary Indian art for the Peabody Essex Museum, the Walters Art Museum, and the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, and has taught across North America and in the UK. Rebecca M. Brown’s research engages in the history of art, architecture, and visual culture of South Asia from the late eighteenth century to the present. Her publications focus on the British colonial era, the anti-colonial movement, art after India’s independence, and the politics of display in the long 1980s. She is currently writing a book on KCS Paniker and his search for a language of painting in the 1960s and 1970s. Other interests extend to contemporary photography via the work of Dayanita Singh and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, and to the decolonizing maneuvers of the sculpture–installations of Rina Banerjee. Dr. Dulma Karunarathna University of Victoria Program Coordinator and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives Status of Women as Depicted in Andhra Art Tradition of South Asia Abstract Art historical studies of South Asia in general, have tended to assign a less prominent place to the ‘women’ than the ‘men’ and place women in the background, a phenomenon which can be understood as being hidden in history. This research examines the depictions against more linear views, which may lead to an alternative perspective derived from art history for women beyond the stereotyped image. Andhra art tradition is one of the richest traditions of Buddhist art that portrays the cultural diversity in the historical period. The sculptured art that embellished the Buddhist stupas of Andhra Pradesh India and Sri Lanka were examined as primary sources for a South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
comparative study. Primary data were collected
through observational fieldwork and museum
surveys.
Material culture in the time reveals that both
Satavahana and Ikshvaku societies were
matrilineal in nature. The establishment of
religious spaces and observances in the period
under discussion was done under the patronage
of royalty and men. In contrast, the females from
the royal family and diverse social backgrounds
were also eager to display their religious
sentiments as patrons of the art. The depiction
of sculptured art and donative inscriptions offers
an alternative profile of energetic and
empowered women, providing an alternative picture beyond the ideals and stereotypes.
The Indian influence is undoubtedly evident in contemporary Sri Lankan art. However, in the bas-
relief of stupa frontispieces, women were portrayed with men, these female figures have been
attributed an inferior place and situated in a secondary situation in relation to the ‘male’.
Biography
Dulma Karunarathna is a Program Coordinator and Post-Doctoral
Research Fellow at Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of
Victoria, Canada. She is a merit-based commonwealth
Scholarship recipient and obtained her Ph.D. in Archaeology,
Newcastle University United Kingdom, and her MPhil and BA in
Archaeology from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She was
the international co-investigator, “Cultural Heritage and Climate
Change; Cultural Heritage Risk and Impact Tools for Integrated
and Collaborative Learning” research collaboration with the School
of Geoscience, University of Edinburgh, funded by UK Research
Council, School of Geo-Science, University of Edinburgh, UK. She
was a Visiting Lecturer, the Postgraduate Institute of Humanities
and Social Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She was
a Visiting Research Fellow (2019-2021), Centre for Studies in
Religion and Society, University of Victoria and she has been Woking as a Senior Lecturer in
Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka from 2002-2021.
Her research focuses on Sustainable Built Environment, Inclusive history of South Asia, Heritage
for Conflict Resolution, Heritage and Climate Change, Social Archaeology of Gender, Cross-
cultural studies, Cultural Diversity, Medical Anthropology, Ethno-Archaeology, Traditional Crafts
and Technology in South Asia.
7|Page
Dr. Munazzah Akhtar University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture Making and Faking Kinship: Re-examining Mubarak Khan’s Mausoleum at Makli, Sindh Abstract In 1486, the Timurid forces, led by Shāh Bēg Arghūn (d. 1524), invaded the northern territories of the Samma Sultanate of Sindh. Consequently, Khān al-ʿĀẓam Mubārak Khān (d. 1520) – the long-serving Samma military commander – set out at the head of a large army to defend the Sultanate. Both the forces met in the early months of 1490 CE and a major battle was fought at Jalūkīr (south of present-day Quetta), resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. The Timurids retreated to Kandahar, while the Samma territories were temporarily reclaimed. On returning to Thatta (the Samma capital of Sindh) in April 1490, Mubārak Khān celebrated this great victory by commissioning for himself, in the Samma royal necropolis of Makli (now a UNESCO world heritage site), a remarkable mausoleum. This building not only hints at the architectural forms that are thoroughly Timurid in conception, but it also shares affinities with the Māru-Gurjara styled medieval Hindu temples from Gujarat and Rajasthan (Western India). Moreover, this mausoleum’s epigraphic program puts emphasis on two important details: Mubārak Khān’s triumph over the Turco-Mongols of Herat and Kandahar, and more intriguingly, tracing his descent from Niẓām al-Dīn Jām Nindō (r. 1461-1508), the legendary Sulṭān of Sindh. However, Mubārak Khān was neither related to the Sulṭān by blood nor marriage. By closely examining the literary and visual evidence, this paper seeks to decipher the implicit subtext interlaced in the hybrid form and the rich visual vocabulary of Mubārak Khān’s mausoleum. It will also be shown that this structure was designed particularly to perform as a rhetorical vehicle to promote Mubārak Khān’s politically charged agenda, visually articulated in themes of immortality, invincibility, and fictive kinship. Biography Munazzah Akhtar is currently working as the Chair and Assistant Prof. in the Department of Architecture, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore. She completed her Ph.D. recently from the Department of Art History & Visual Studies, University of Victoria (Canada). Her doctoral dissertation examines the architectural artifacts preserved in the Necropolis of Makli – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Sindh (Pakistan) – to reassess the cultural identities of the Samma dynastic elites (r. 1351-1522). She is the recipient of several awards, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Scholarship, the University of Oxford Barakat Trust Postgraduate Award, the CSRS Ian H. Stewart Graduate Student Fellowship (UVic), and the Sheila and John Hackett Research Award. Her research interests include Islamic funerary architecture of South Asia, cross-cultural issues in Islamic art, the built environment of India during the British Raj, and the contemporary architectural practices in Pakistan. South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
Randip Bakshi
Langara College
Instructor, Department of Art History and Religious Studies
Identity and Integration: Arthur Erickson and the Ross Street Sikh Temple
Abstract
The Ross Street Sikh Temple is an excellent example of the Modernist style that came to
dominate much of Vancouver in the 1970s. Designed by Arthur Erickson, a prominent proponent
of the modernist style, this Sikh gurudwara on Ross Street in South Vancouver is defined by its
simple construction, pyramidal shape, clean lines of sight, and extensive use of concrete, glass,
and steel. It differs—at least in design, style, and construction, if not in use—from a traditional
Sikh temple. This paper attempts to ask why the Sikh community choose a modernist edifice to
build the first major Sikh temple in the city of Vancouver. What reasons propelled this design
choice? Was this a way for the community to integrate into the visual landscape of the city?
Perhaps, it was a means to suggest that the community was as progressive as the structure. It is
this question that dominates the larger discussion in this paper. I hope to suggest that the design
for the Ross Street Sikh temple was a very conscious choice on the part of the community to
integrate into the fabric of Vancouver. To contextualize this argument, this paper will begin with
the arrival of the Sikh community in Kitsilano and their ultimate move (or rather expulsion) from
that area. It then uses the new site for the Sikh temple on Ross Street as a starting point for
discussing integration.
Biography
Randip is an Instructor in the Department of Art History and Religious Studies at Langara College
in Vancouver, BC where he teaches courses in Asian and South Asian art, the Global
Renaissance, and Worldviews. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history from
the universities of Toronto and Victoria respectively.
9|Page
Chloe Tibert
University of Victoria
MA Candidate, Department of Art History & Visual Studies
Refashioning Phulkari and Kantha: Affect, Nostalgia, & Revitalization of Traditional South Asian
Embroidery
Abstract
Once exclusively handstitched in South Asia, phulkari and nakshi kantha embroidery traditions
were recently reimagined as popular fashion items. This paper outlines proposed research that
will comparatively explore the embroidered textile traditions of phulkari from Punjab in India and
Pakistan and nakshi kantha of the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh. I examine the
different ways these textiles were and continue to be revitalized both within their original
communities as well as in global markets today. I use the framework of affect and nostalgia to
analyze the emotive qualities of these textiles and what they represent for individuals who
consume them from varying communities, such as individuals in their place of origin, in the
diaspora, and other foreign consumers. I suggest that affect and nostalgia contribute to a sense
of place or belonging and drive the revitalization as well as commodification of these textiles.
Biography
Chloe Tibert is a Master’s student in the Art History and Visual Studies
Department at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
Her research explores the intersection of traditional embroidery
practices from South Asia and fashion and consumption both in
domestic markets and on a global scale. She earned her Bachelor’s in
Art History from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017.
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of VictoriaTerhi Hannula
University of Victoria
PhD Candidate, Departments of Art History & Visual Studies and Gender Studies
Lone Heroes in War: Muscular Hindu Nationalism in Bollywood Cinema
Abstract
Hindu nationalism in India relies on a
vision of a strong, virile, muscular
masculinity and a chaste, pure,
femininity that is the repository of Hindu
tradition. War films in contemporary
Hindi cinema shore up this muscular
Hindu nationalism. There is a distinct
change to be seen in war films before
2014 and after 2014 during the Hindu
nationalist government led by
Bharatiya Janata Party. The
intensification of a Hindu nationalist
message is visible both in historical
films such as Panipat (2019) and
Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020)
depicting Maratha armies against the Afghans and the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb,
respectively, and films depicting more contemporary warfare such as Uri: The Surgical
Strike (2018) and Shershaah (2021). The war films of the post-2014 period celebrate
strong and martial male bodies that are distinctly Hindu. The enemies in war against this
Hindu nation are Muslim – the Afghans in Panipat, the Mughals in Tanhaji, and Pakistan
in Uri and Shershaah. The Muslim other is cast straightforwardly as the enemy. War is
also a context in which the gender binary of the martial man and the chaste woman
becomes more pronounced. In the recent Hindi war films this gender binary and the
othering of the enemies of the Hindu nation intersect. The trope of a lone, male hero
embodies India’s transnational success and structures the gender binary of muscular
Hindu nationalism.
Biography
Terhi Hannula is a PhD candidate in an interdisciplinary program in the
Departments of Art History and Visual Studies, and Gender Studies in
the University of Victoria. Her doctoral work investigates gender and
Hindu nationalism in popular Hindi cinema, also known as Bollywood.
She examines the intersection of masculinity and nation through such
themes as war, migration and sexuality. She has a Master of Arts
degree from Helsinki University, Finland, in Comparative Literature and
South Asian Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Library Services from
the Turku University of Applied Sciences. She works as an information
specialist in Turku City Library, Finland, providing media education for
children and young adults, and has previously worked as a publishing
editor, literary agent, and literary critic.
11 | P a g eShruti Parthasarathy
University of Wisconsin-Madison
PhD Candidate
Navigating Identity through Visual Art in the Wake of Partition: A Case Study
Abstract
The Partition of India of 1947 has continued to draw artistic responses to its sustained trauma,
going well beyond the generation that underwent it to be passed on inter-generationally, over
the ensuing decades. In the contemporary period, a large number of Pakistani, Indian and
Bangladeshi artists have responded through diverse media to the complexity of Partition's
violence and other aspects.
Unlike most of these artists who have responded to Partition’s political ramifications or individual
aspects as violence, memory and gender, the contemporary Indian artist, Krupa Makhija, has
engaged with it to draw singular attention
to the province of Sindh she traces her
ancestry to. This presentation examines
Makhija's works as a manifestation of a
postmemorial 'post amnesia', as coined
by the scholar Ananya Jahanara Kabir, in
the exploration of Makhija’s Sindhi
identity as a second-generation Partition
subject in her works. In so doing, she also
draws express attention to the wider
erasure Sindh has suffered in dominant Partition narratives in the 20th century, with its ‘mixed’
geographical and cultural location between Pakistan and India, and which has only begun to
receive scholarly attention in the recent past. I argue that unlike most other subcontinental artistic
responses to Partition where ethnic identity has not been a strong marker, Makhija's affective
explorations help her consciously navigate and articulate her ethnic Sindhi identity, viewed from
the lens of a post-Partition young Sindhi woman.
Biography
Shruti Parthasarathy is an art historian, writer and editor, with a
special interest in literary translation. She is the editor of K.B. Goel:
Critical Writings on Art 1957-1998, published by SSAF-Tulika Books,
New Delhi in 2020, and has a forthcoming monograph on the Indian
abstract painter, Ram Kumar, titled Painter of the Sublime (New Delhi:
DAG, 2022). Her work of literary translation, Hindi Cinema via Delhi is
forthcoming from HarperCollins India, while a work-in-progress is a
three volume translation project of Ram Kumar’s works exploring
literary fiction and a travelogue. She is presently pursuing a PhD on
Partition’s visual arts at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of VictoriaZohreen Murtaza
National College of Arts, Lahore
Faculty, Cultural Studies Department
Amina Ejaz
University of Victoria
PhD Candidate, Department of Art History & Visual Studies
Post 9/11: Exquisite Violence and the Absent Body in the Works of Pakistani Artists
Abstract
In the backdrop of 9/11 and the events
that followed, miniature painting in
Pakistan underwent a revivalist
transformation as it merged with
contemporary art practices that
catapulted many Pakistani artists into
the global art market. These artists had
responded to the bloodshed, violence
and chaos that the country witnessed in
the wake of America’s War on Terror.
Even as they appeared to comment on
their immediate present, Pakistani
artists were, in reality drawing from a
vast repertoire of violence, sectarian
strife and instability that had besieged
the country for decades. Aesthetically,
they were drawing from seductive
historical illustrations of violence
depicted in miniature painting.
Shunning bodily depictions of carnage, Pakistani artists began to employ specific visual tropes of
this genre emphasizing beauty, finesse and aestheticization in their depiction of bloodshed.
Bodies were absent but their presence was ritualized with the use of blood. This paper will
examine the works of Rashid Rana, Imran Qureshi, and Ramzan Jafri to question and interrogate
this intersection of politics and aesthetics that dominates the works of these artists.
Biographies
Zohreen Murtaza is a graduate of National College
of Arts, Lahore, and also completed her MA (Hons.)
Visual Art Degree from NCA. Currently she is a
Lecturer and Permanent Faculty member in the
Cultural Studies Department at NCA. Zohreen writes
on art and is a regular contributor to various
publications such as Artnow (Pakistan) and the daily
newspaper Dawn. She has attended various
workshops and faculty training programs. Her
current research interests include transnational
encounters in culture, material culture and art, the
13 | P a g eimpact of colonialism in a post colonial contemporary art scene, mediation/conflict of identities as
artists navigate and produce work in a global art market.
Amina Ejaz is a Doctoral student at the University of Victoria in
the Department of Art History and Visual Studies, Canada with
a concentration on contemporary Pakistani art history. She has
diversified research interests, which revolve around
postcolonial theory, decolonization, activism, and feminism in
Pakistan. She has completed Master’s at the University of
Edinburgh. She joined the National College of Arts, Lahore as
an Assistant Professor in the Cultural Studies Department in
2015, where she has taught Art History courses to
Undergraduate students. In addition, she also taught courses
on South Asian Visual Culture to MPhil students enrolled in the
Cultural Studies Program.
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of VictoriaRoopa Kanal
University of Victoria
MA Candidate, Department of Art History & Visual Studies
Globalism, Politics, and Democracy: the Artivism of Ashmina Ranjit
Abstract
The 1990s began a transformative period in the political, social, and cultural history of Nepal with
globalism impinging on the transformation. The career of Nepali “artivist” (artist-activist) Ashmina
Ranjit (b. 1964) was founded during this transformative historical period in Nepal situating her
career equally in the local and global paradigm. Her work disrupted mainstream Nepali visual
culture. At the time, political elite and high Hindu caste ideologies had a stronghold over the
cultural practices of Nepal. Nepali art predominantly functioned for religious and commercial
purposes. Ranjit was among the first Nepali artists to respond to global contemporary artistic
trends, to embrace change and confront challenges associated with Nepal’s historical past and
high caste Hindu values. From her international training and exposure, she brought new
techniques and narratives to the art of Nepal with which she questioned normative socio-political
ideologies to support social, political and cultural
reform. This paper examines major public works
by Ranjit from the late 90s to early 2000s periods
that challenged politics and taboo subjects
around gender illustrating her bold, trailblazing
artistic voice during the nascent contemporary art
period in Nepal. Ranjit set a precedent
emphasizing personal content, public intimacy,
and shared experience in her work. She became
a leader in Nepal’s artivist movement focusing on
creative action for humanitarian objectives.
Although a provocateur, her work represents
Inclusivity, community building and “national
healing” as the country seeks redefinition in this
time of transition.
Biography
Roopa Kanal is an MA student with the Department of Art History
with the University of Victoria focusing on contemporary South
Asian art. Her primary interests are South Asian and Himalayan
Art at home and in the diaspora. Areas of focus in her work are
the religions of South Asia, continuity and adaption of traditions,
and conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Prior to her MA at the University of Victoria her academic work
focused on ancient and medieval art, ritual and religious
philosophy of the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. In addition to her
academic background Roopa has training in the museum field.
15 | P a g eSameena Siddiqui,
University of British Columbia
PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory
Confronting Exhibitionary Order: Regional Colonial Exhibitions and Mela (fair) Spaces in
Cantonment Towns of United Provinces, North India 1880-1940s
Abstract
This paper will trace
the cultural history
and visual economy
of makeshift open-
exhibition spaces
(melas/numaish-
fairgrounds) in the
late 19th & early 20th
century of United
Provinces, especially
in cantonment towns
like Lucknow,
Kanpur, Meerut,
Aligarh and others.
These cantonments
were important
political, local trade
centres and played a
role in commercial
circulation and
consumption of modern technologies, disseminating imperial knowledge and spectacles. Within
North India, these towns have a history of hosting popular fairs, Mahautsavs (carnivals), and later
colonial exhibitions were held during the festive season for days and months from October to
March. Flocked by masses (of different caste and classes) in huge numbers, these traditional and
popular spaces facilitated ‘modern encounters’.
As a result, they played a crucial role in shaping the public culture of colonial and post-colonial
India. By probing into the early 20th-century history of visual culture in cantonment towns, my
paper will critically look at the transformation of local fairs and the establishment of colonial
exhibitionary orders in North India. How did the increase in modern consumer and material culture
in cantonment towns transform the local fairs into the platform for modern exhibition and
knowledge? How were new media technologies like photography and cinema used by colonial
administration to define order, disseminate imperial hierarchies, and transfer colonial
knowledge?
Similarly, how new media technologies were used for the self-fashioning of identities by the
‘natives’? Also, the British recognized the potential for melas/numaish to act as powerful conduits
of disease as well as news, rumours, sedition, and eventually nationalism. Lastly, this paper will
examine how, despite colonial government interference and desire to control public spaces,
during the nationalist movement, these spaces became sites of resistance, mobilization of anti-
colonial (swadeshi) sentiments and invoked the idea of ‘national’ community?
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of VictoriaBiography
Sameena Siddiqui is a Ph.D. candidate and SRSF
doctoral fellow at the Department of Art History, Visual
Art and Theory, University of British Columbia, Canada.
She did her M.Phil. from the School of Arts & Aesthetics,
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, and has
presented her research work in several international
conferences and residencies. Her dissertation research
recently won the MFAH Joan and Stanford Alexander
Dissertation Award, US, 2021.
Amena Sharmin
Operations Manager, Open Space
Himaloya Saha
University of Victoria
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law
Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture: What Will Happen?
Abstract
This paper examines the Raju sculpture, an anti-terrorism
memorial sculpture sculpted by Shaymol Chowdhury on
September 17, 1997. The Raju sculpture is located on TSC, the
center of the University of Dhaka, and is one of the most
renowned sculptures in Bangladesh. Named after the political-
martyr Moin Hossain Raju, an activist and an active member of
the Bangladesh Students' Union in the 1990s, the sculpture
stands at the point he was gunned down by right-wing factions
during an anti-terrorism movement on March 3, 1992. This
paper attempts to visually analyze the Anti-Terrorism Raju
Memorial Sculpture, and assesses its transformation from a
memorial sculpture to a space for political gatherings. This
paper discusses how the Raju memorial sculpture became an
indelible icon against terrorism in the Bangladeshi landscape of
political art and activism from 1997 to 2021. I submit that, given
the geographical context of the Dhaka University campus,
Artivism emerges as a novel expression and pathway to secure
17 | P a g eand facilitate the civic participation of the next generation of concerned citizens of Bangladesh.
Keeping at the forefront of my analysis the recent development of the Dhaka Metrorail (lane 6)
that cuts off the sculpture’s 360-degree view, I seek to quantify the socio-political effects and
implications stemming therefrom. Furthermore, I pay particular attention to the effects on the
political culture in the Dhaka University campus. Lastly, to situate my visual analysis in a broader
context, I also discuss the legal nuances and implications concerning the protection and
preservation of historical artifacts in the public space.
Biographies
Amena Sharmin specializes in the visual aspects of activism and
resistance in contemporary South Asia. Her scholarly interests focus
on graffiti, film, social media and popular cultural phenomena and
mores so as to understand the civic participation of 'artivists' in
contemporary South Asian art culture and society. Amena is currently
working at Open Space, an artist-run center located in Downtown, B.C.,
in the capacity of the Operations Manager. She has a Bachelor’s in Art
History and a Master’s in Bangladeshi Buddhist Art. She also holds a
Master of Arts focusing on Art and Activism from the University of
Victoria. Prior to joining Open Space, she worked and volunteered for
several art galleries, and participated, in various capacities, in
academic conferences in B.C., Hong Kong and Bangladesh.
Himaloya Saha is a PhD candidate in the
Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. Trained in Corporate
Governance and Financial Regulation (LL.M.) from the University of
Warwick in UK, Ms. Saha has an experience of nearly five years in the
field of academia. Prior to her joining at North South University, she
had lectured at the Department of Law and Justice, Southeast
University, Dhaka. She possesses an undergraduate degree in Law,
from BRAC University and a graduate degree in Criminology and
Criminal Justice from Dhaka University. Her dissertation analyses
impact of legal policies concerning foreign direct investment on
employee protection In Bangladesh. It specifically focuses on such
protection during cross-border corporate insolvencies.
South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of VictoriaAmbreen Shehzad Hussaini
University of Victoria
PhD Candidate, Art History & Visual Studies
Beyond Content: An Invitation to Experience the Essence of the Qur’anic Text through Non-
Legible Abstract Calligraphy Art Form
Abstract
The Qur’an is a part of people’s
everyday life in Pakistan. People
engage with the Qur’anic text
and the Arabic script in multitude
of ways and on various objects.
Their perceptions and their
reading of the text are guided by
their experiences, needs, and
interests. During my doctoral
research fieldwork in 2019, I
observed the use of Qur’anic
text on objects of material
culture ranging from a grain of a
rice to monumental
architectures. There are several
themes in my dissertation on
why and how people engage
with the sacred text through art; however, for this short presentation, I will present a case-study
of Amin Gulgee - a jewelry-maker, metalworker, sculptor, curator of exhibitions, performer, and a
curator of performances - to underline the metaphysical aspects of calligraphy art. Art is often
considered as a form of communication and outward expression. Art is inherently social and
political, but it is also personal and intimate. In Gulgee’s work, the process of creation is more
inward and private; yet, at the same time universal to which people (audience of his work) can
relate to. By deliberately making his artworks un-readable and abstract, Gulgee offers his
audience an agency to interpret the work in whatever way they like. Through his creative
endeavors, Gulgee takes an opportunity to be free, to destroy the “traditional” form, to “internalize”
the essence of the Qur’anic text so as to build personal connection with something beyond the
physical (the content) where the essence is experienced, both by the artist and the viewers,
through intuitive abstract calligraphy forms.
19 | P a g eBiography Ambreen Shehzad Hussaini is currently pursuing doctoral studies at University of Victoria – Art History and Visual Studies Department. Before coming to Canada, she completed a two-year degree programme entitled Master of Arts in Muslim Cultures at the Aga Khan University – Institute for the study of Muslim Civilizations at London. She completed her Master of Arts in Islamic Studies from University of Karachi and one- year diploma in Arabic Language from the Society for the promotion of Arabic Language – Pakistan. She is interested in the contemporary artistic expressions of the Qur’an. In other words, she is examining how contemporary Muslim artists are interpreting the Word of God through their artistic endeavors. Through her doctoral work, she intends to investigate how significant the Qur’anic text is for general populace of Pakistan. In addition to her research endeavours, she has vast experience of teaching and training both in Pakistan and Canada. Mohammad Zaki Rezwan University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh Senior Lecturer Devotion in Motion: The Image of Islam in Rickshaw Art of Bangladesh My research explores the representation of Islam and Islamic culture in rickshaw art of Bangladesh. I examine the extent of religious devotion within this art practice. I will investigate if these images are set in motion to preach Islam through the streets of Bangladesh. As rickshaw art is often portrayed as peoples’ art of Bangladesh, I will also inquire if the representation of Islam in this art practice correlates with its social, cultural, and political context. The study will South Asian Art History Student Symposium 2022 | University of Victoria
contemplate the Islamic symbols and motifs of several rickshaw paintings, unfolding their
meanings in relation to the constantly evolving national identity of Bangladesh. The study will also
take note of how rickshaw paintings function as a cosmopolitan space for aesthetics and
devotional imagery that are widely popular across South Asia.
Biography
Mohammad Zaki Rezwan is currently working as a Senior
Lecturer at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)
in Dhaka. He has over five years of experience in teaching a
diverse range of courses, including visual art and culture,
cinema, media, communication, critical theory, cultural
studies, and postcolonial theory in Bangladesh and Canada.
He holds an MA in Comparative Media Arts from Simon
Fraser University, Canada and an MA in Cultural Studies
from Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. His writings and
presentations, both scholarly and non-scholarly, were hosted
and published in diversified venues from Bangladesh,
Canada, India, and the USA. He curated the exhibition
Unveiling in 2019 at Centre A, the Vancouver International
Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.
21 | P a g eNeha Munshi
University of Victoria
MA Candidate, Department of History
Evoking the Sacred: Shiva Nataraja in Indian Art
Abstract
The dancing image of Shiva Nataraja is considered to be
an embodiment of Shiva’s cosmic dance therefore
representing the energy of the entire cosmos. In the visual
representation of Shiva Nataraja, myth and symbols were
clearly articulated to convey a variety of complex ideas. The
dance of Shiva embodying the movement of the entire
cosmos was gracefully captivated and rendered through
deeper notions and understanding of life. In this
presentation, I aim to explore the meaning and context of
the Nataraja image by examining an eleventh century
bronze sculpture, which was produced during the reign of
the mighty Chola dynasty of Tamilnadu in southern India. I
also aim to examine the Tamil bhakti or devotional
traditions and Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy to provide a
deeper understanding of Nataraja’s art and iconography. I
will then conclude with a short dance performance in the
North Indian classical dance style of Kathak, which
explores the sacred and devotional roots of the Indian
classical dance.
Biography
I am a Masters student in History at the University of Victoria
and my research pertains to investigating the relationship
between myth, history, religion and politics by exploring the
Indian epic Ramayana. I completed my undergraduate degree
in Anthropology at the University of Victoria and I also hold a
postgraduate diploma in Asian Art from the School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a
Diploma in Business Administration and Marketing from
Camosun College, Victoria. I have worked extensively with the
Canadian government in the area of Indigenous relations and
in implementing the programs concerning the Indian
Residential School survivors. I am currently studying a variety
of dance forms including the North Indian classical dance form known as Kathak and Spanish
flamenco dance. I have also studied the south Indian classical dance form known as
Bharatanatyam in the past.
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