Announcing the recipients!
The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), in partnership with Royal Enfield, is excited to announce the recipients of the third edition of The Himalayan Fellowship for Creative Practitioners. This unique fellowship program, launched as an initiative in 2023 for the Himalayan belt, supports and empowers creative practitioners working at the intersection of ecology and cultural knowledge in the Western and Eastern Himalayan regions (namely Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam and Kalimpong-Darjeeling region of North Bengal).
For this year, our selected creative practitioners are Avinam Manger, Brihat Rai, Dipankar Panging, Hilal Ahmad Khan, Nyamem Jini, Pranami Koch, Stanzin Tsepel and Tsering Lhamo, alongside two collectives: Varun Chauhan, Ritik Negi, Tanisha Negi and Pramiti Negi, and the Highland Group.
For the period of the Fellowship, they will dedicate themselves to their proposed projects ranging from pre-digital photography cultures and indigenous material practices in weaving, clay and sculpture, to performance, film and the making of collective spaces, all rooted in the specific ecologies and social histories of their place.
The Jury for the Fellowship included Dr. Nandini Velho, multidisciplinary practitioner working with science and environmental communication; Moonis Ahmad, visual artist working between Srinagar and Melbourne; Manjeet Baruah, North East India Studies Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr Monisha Ahmed, scholar and Executive Director, Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation (LAMO); Mary Therese Kurkalang, cultural curator and social researcher based between Shillong and Delhi; and Vidya Shivadas, curator and Director, FICA.
We received over 175 applications showcasing a diversity of work spanning various multidisciplinary practices, including audio-visual and textual forms of documentation, installation, film, photography, performance, site-specific interventions, and craft. The projects displayed a keen interest in bringing discourses on ecological knowledge to the front, along with a keen awareness of the unique contexts of the region. The array of projects range from preserving analogue photos, the politics of gender within performance, strong engagements with indigenous materials through sculpture and weaving and engagements with space-making.
The programme of the Fellowship will entail components of mentorship, interactive sessions with resource persons, workshops and an exhibition platform. With the innovative nature of the Himalayan Fellowship platform, we are very excited to be engaging with such a diverse group of practitioners and to be working to better facilitate a platform that can grow and evolve with the dynamism of their practices
About the recipients:
About our collaborator:
The oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production, Royal Enfield has created beautifully crafted motorcycles since 1901. Paying tribute to the Himalayas, which Royal Enfield has always called as its ‘spiritual home’, the brand is looking to partner 100 Himalayan communities by 2030, with the objective to build resilience in the face of climate change. Alongside, Royal Enfield will encourage one million riders globally to join a movement of driving deep, long-lasting and systemic change in how humans and nature interact and thrive. This commitment is exemplified by the unique partnership with UNESCO, where riders explore the Himalayas, documenting and promoting the rich Intangible Cultural Heritage of local communities. Currently, Royal Enfield supports more than 40 projects across the Indian Himalayan region and is expanding its initiatives.
Fellowship Consultants
Mary Therese Kurkalang is a cultural curator and social researcher with three decades of experience working in publishing, art & culture and the social sector; across India and internationally. An independent consultant since 2012, she has worked intensely in each of the North eastern states of India on social research, creative practices and peace & conflict dialogue forums. Since 2010, she has been part of various advisory boards on Culture, Art, Literature and the Social Sector. A certified Art Management Trainer, she regularly conducts training sessions and lectures on literature, culture, tribal identity and politics. In 2022 she co-curated a programme and exhibition focussing on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Himalayan Region in a partnership with Royal Enfield and UNESCO. She was Director of the Shillong Literary Festival (editions 2021, 2022, 2023). She is currently directing the Brahmaputra Literature Festival (since 2024) and the Sikkim Literature Festival(2025). She is the co-founder of the Rachna Books Writers Residency (launched 2023)