ON GARDEN CULTURES
By Amita Baviskar and Suresh Jayaram | 6:30 PM IST | 29 August 2020
For inhabitants of bustling cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, parks such as Lodhi Gardens and Lal Bagh offer a refuge from the sensory assault and stress of urban life. These urban commons are where we can take a deep breath, stroll along canopied pathways and colourful flowerbeds, hang out with family and friends. They are the green lungs that make cities liveable.
But there is much more to urban parks than meets the eye. Each garden tells a story about empire and the nation, about movement and migration, about changing cultural styles. Each park holds a history of the thought and labour that went into its creation. Amita Baviskar and Suresh Jayaram explore urban gardens as a unique blend of nature and culture and learn something new about plants and people.
About the Speakers
Amita Baviskar is a sociologist and, since 2017, Professor at the Sociology Unit, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India. She received the 2005 Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, the 2008 VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research and, in 2010, was awarded the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences – Sociology in recognition of her analysis of social and environmental movements in modern India. Baviskar studies the cultural politics of environment and development in rural and urban India.
Suresh Jayaram is a visual artist, trained as an art historian, arts administrator and curator from Bangalore. He is the Founder of 1.Shanhtiroad Studio an international artist’s Residency. He is currently involved in art practise, urban mapping, archiving, curation and arts education. His keen interest in environmental and urban developmental issues influences his work. He taught Art History at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, the College of Fine Arts in Bangalore and later went on to become the Dean from 2005-2007.He obtained his BFA in painting from the College of Fine Arts,Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat 1990 and MFA from M.S.University, Baroda in 1992 in Art Criticism.
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