Panchtattvas: The Road Ahead, Vol I & II

Description

This book, a two-volume set, contains thought-provoking essays on sustainable development as well as award-winning photographs from Photosphere 2016, which culminated in an outdoor exhibition titled ‘Panchtattvas: The Road Ahead’. The exhibition, held at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, aimed to create not only a new language of photography but to sensitise the public on significant stories about sustainability through photo-installations that were freed from the white cube of the gallery space. The four awardees, Harikrishna Katragadda, KR Sunil, Monica Tiwari and Shraddha Borawake, were mentored by Aditya Arya, Bandeep Singh, Parthiv Shah and Prabir Purkayastha. Five distinct and distinguished experts—Dr Ajay Mathur, Amba Jamir, Madhav Gadgil, Mike Pandey, Sunita Narain—from across the sphere of sustainable development give voice to the concerns that are gripping the field. These are fresh narratives preserved as a document for future generations. The intent of these two volumes is clear: to learn from these stories and to see the world as it once was; to create modern narratives keeping the essence of the ancient panchtattvas alive in the minds of the people.

Dr Alka Pande

Dr Alka Pande, Curator and Art Consultant and Artistic Director, Photosphere, is currently the Consultant Arts Advisor and Curator at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. She completed her post-doctoral studies from Goldsmiths College, University of the Arts, London, in Critical Art Theory, under the aegis of the Charles Wallace India Trust. Her PhD was in the History of Art, on the concept of Ardhanarisvara in Indian Art with special emphasis on sculpture. She has been passionately involved with the world of art for nearly three-and-a-half decades. Dr Pande is responsible for curating several significant and perceptive exhibitions in India and abroad, notably a singular exhibition at the Pinacothèque de Paris titled, ‘The Kama-Sutra: Spirituality and Eroticism in Indian Art’. In 2006, she was awarded the Chevalier dansl’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres or Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters—an award bequeathed by the French Government. In 2009, she received the Australian Asia Council Special Award. She then went on to receive the Amrita Shergill Samman from the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi in 2014, for her contribution to the arts.