For this year, our selected creative practitioners are Arieno Kera, Kesang Thakur, Lalsangzuala Tetea Vanchhawng, Sagar Saurabh, Tsetan Angmo, Thoudam Victor Singh, Veecheet Dhakal, Wasim Ashoor, Zainab, and Zeeshan Nabi.

For the period of the Fellowship, they will dedicate themselves to their proposed projects that range from completing a film derived from situated visual research on diverse socio-cultural processes in Lahaul valley to the revival and reintroduction to formal music education of Mizo folk instruments; poetic observations of a human-bird relationship story in Assam to the making of physical poetry for endangered rivers in Manipur; a documentation of the expanding highway infrastructure in the region, and questions on development.

The recipients were selected from over 190 applicants by a jury consisting of Prof. Joy L. K. Pachuau (Author, Prof. Historical Studies, JNU), Ritu Sarin (Filmmaker and Founder, DIFF), Sanchayan Ghosh (Artist and Pedagogue, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan), Mary Therese Kurkalang (Cultural Curator and Social Researcher), Dr. Monisha Ahmed (Textile Anthropologist and Director, LAMO), and Vidya Shivadas (Curator and Director, FICA).

Arieno Kera is interested in process-based art practices with a distinctive drawing language, while also engaging with other mediums like painting, prints, installation, video and sound, as an archive of local tradition and cultural memory. Exploring a material-based practice, she engages critically with tools of representation derived from various traditional elements from her own indigenous background of Nagaland and interprets them into contemporary idioms of image making, conversing with practice of drawing as an interface of representation, process and mark making.

Michael Oppitz notes that oral traditions die when a generation is silenced, a reality reflected in the Naga experience, where cultural prohibition has weakened ancestral knowledge. Arieno’s project explores a Naga origination story tied to three memorial stones in Makhrai-Rabu, Manipur—Man, Animals, and Spirit. The fall of the Man (1937) and Animals (1914) stones aligns with cultural and environmental decline, leaving only the Spirit stone standing. Through this site, she examines shifting interpretations of the folktale and its relevance today.

Kesang Thakur is a researcher and video art practitioner from the trans-Himalayan tribal valley of Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, India. She is the co-founder of Filming Lahaul, and currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy.

Golden Mirror (Sunehra Aayina) is a film that emerges from within Filming Lahaul, a cross media ethnographic project initiated in 2015 with the aim of creating and facilitating situated visual research on diverse socio-cultural processes in Lahaul valley. A storytelling composed of intimate field notes, indigenous poetry and music, the film will unfold as Khandromas, the non-human and human energies inhabiting Lahaul valley will extract the earth, channelise water, disentangle ropes and sing songs of their own decay and death. In Golden Mirror dreams, motherhood, memories, myths and the mundane will collide, bringing together Lahauli women as they craft a feminine narration of Home.

A pioneer among the new wave of Mizo folk musicians, Lalsangzuala Tetea Vanchhawng is a multi-instrumentalist with a unique skill of playing and making Mizo folk musical instruments. He works to restore the knowledge that was thought lost in reviving folk practices, and strives to introduce a new generation to Mizo folk music by making instruments more accessible. 

Through Ngho Var, Tetea wishes to embark on a four-pronged project that looks at music, culture, education, and history in a holistic approach that keeps in mind the symbiosis between the various facets of his practice to archive and safeguard old and forgotten Mizo songs and folk music. He hopes to achieve this by reviving and revising folk instruments, musicology and composition methods, redesigning folk instruments and develop a standard tuning, orchestrate a wider range of instrumentation to introduce folk musical instruments for contemporary use, and rebuild a connection to their local environment by using indigenous bamboo species in the creation of folk instruments.

Sagar Saurabh is a poet, lyricist, actor, and filmmaker from Assam. He has two published poetry collections in Assamese and has collaborated as a lyricist with major artists and bands in the region. Saurabh's filmmaking career began with his directorial debut, Bheku Bhaona (Much Ado About Nothing), a short film for Project Desh. He co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed feature film Aamis (Ravening) (2019), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to be showcased at numerous prestigious film festivals worldwide, winning several awards.

The film follows 65-year-old retired headmistress Golapi Chetia, who lives alone in her ancestral home in Sibsagar, Assam. Her days revolve around feeding hornbills, who visit her verandah each morning for bananas. She finds joy in their silent companionship, but come March, they disappear for nesting, leaving her longing for their return. Though she cannot keep them close, she plants fruit trees in hope. After the monsoon, the birds return—sometimes with their hatchlings—filling her solitude with joy once again.

Thoudam Victor specializes in acting from National School of Drama, New Delhi. He was awarded a one year fellowship program by the National School of Drama and worked under the guidance of Heisnam Kanhailal and Ema Sabitri. He is a Charles Wallace India Trust Scholar 2014-15 and pursued ‘Advance Theatre Practice’ in London International School of Performing Arts (now Arthaus Berlin). He is currently the artistic director of Akhoka Theatre.

The proposed project would like to understand the drastic changes in the rivers of Manipur and its effects on the people, due to constant drying up off season, depletion of catchment areas, unmonitored stone quarrying from aggressive development, flash floods in the rainy season, pollution and blocking its natural flow by mega dams. He will create a physical poetry about the soul of the endangered rivers. The process will understand and analyse collective memory associated with the rivers among the communities in the last 30 years, and undergo a psycho-physical process to embody and resonate physical memories.

Tsetan Angmo is a visual artist from Ladakh, a passionate illustrator and an animator with a flair for bringing characters to life through motion with a keen love for storytelling. She has done her graduation in Applied Arts from College of Art, Delhi. Later, taking Inspiration from a number of films and different artists, she pursued her dream by studying Masters in Animation Film Design at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. There, she honed her skills in traditional hand-drawn animation as well as digital techniques, thereby always seeking to push her boundaries of creativity. 

Her animated film highlights the critical connection between climate change, melting glaciers, and water security in Ladakh. Through stories gathered from different regions, it weaves together past memories and present challenges to spark conversations about sustainable water conservation. The film follows a Ladakhi girl as she navigates shifting landscapes, reflecting on shared histories, the inescapable realities of climate change, and a hopeful vision for the future.

Veecheet Dhakal is a filmmaker and musician. He is the vocalist, lyricist and violinist for Gauley Bhai, a nepali folk-rock band. Growing up in Kalimpong and Darjeeling, a group of small towns located in the northern part of West Bengal, India — he has always felt the area was enveloped in a political and psychological uncertainty that shaped daily life. After losing a close friend, Sidhant, to suicide, he decided to set up the Teesta Creative Space, which led to the emergence of the Teesta Troupers, a collective of musicians. His music is situated in the experiences of this region, and has become a way of memory keeping and sharing the story of where he comes from.

Teesta Pari Mirga Bhukda / When the Deer Barks is a series of visual diaries tracing the contours of a landscape in flux. In collaboration with musicians, aspiring film-makers and young people of Teesta, Veecheet hopes to document the experience of communities who reside in this ever-transforming landscape, highlighting the destruction and damage, but also their resilience and creativity. The destruction of a once ecologically rich Teesta is just a passing glance from a car for tourists who frequent the area. People are reduced to statistics and the sparse media imagery perversely sensationalises loss and displacement. The project intends to counter this invisibility by creating a sensorium, foregrounding the experiences of people living in the region.

Wasim Ashoor is a philosophy researcher, writer, cultural curator and heritage conservationist from Ladakh. His thesis explored the relationship between causality and responsibility in the context of climate change, introducing a novel model of forward-looking moral responsibility using the formal causal modelling approach. In 2018, he established India’s first Balti Museum—the Balti Heritage House and Museum—to safeguard the endangered heritage of the Balti community. Currently, Wasim is part of an Indo-Italian research team documenting Balti architecture in India, a project supported by a grant from Oxford Brookes University. With his robust academic background, poetic sensibilities, and experience as a curator, Wasim is committed to rigorously exploring these ideas and sharing them through creative expression.

This project explores how Balti communities in Baltistan, Ladakh, and the Western Himalayas understand causality and responsibility, particularly in issues like unplanned construction in Turtuk. By documenting narratives, sayings, poetry, and folktales, it traces shifts in these perceptions over time. A conceptual exhibition at the Balti Heritage House and Museum will showcase the findings, contributing to the revitalization of indigenous practices and sustainable environmental stewardship.

Zainab is a lens-based visual artist from Kashmir with a background in photojournalism. Her work draws upon personal experiences of survival in a region gauging uncertainty. In her art practice she documents the disruptions in her home arising out of external violence; in her photojournalistic practice, the work moves from beyond home, to the homeland, documenting daily life in the region. The images become markers of resistance and testimony to the everyday banality of “unrest.” Further in her practice, she is interested in documenting the relationship between land and humans. She is a founding member of Her Pixel Story, a Kashmir based women photographers’ collective operating since 2019 and featured in Aperture Mag, Radical Art Review among others.

Until All Hills Are Dust is a documentation of the expanding highway infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. Presently, the state attempts to make this highway an all-weather road. To achieve this, the mountains are carved multi-lane roads and tunnels. This construction in a hostile region brings with it a huge human and environmental cost. The landslides have become frequent. Due to landslides and fatal road accidents occuring in the region, in just the last five years, 1986 lives have been lost. In Gool and Parnote, the two villages located in the Ramban region of Jammu, scores of homes have been damaged in landslides. A component of this project shall be documenting the two villages and the challenges people are facing while battling nature.

A multi-faceted musician with a diverse background in classical, experimental, and contemporary music, Zeeshan Nabi brings an innovative approach to composition, music production, and education. Zeeshan’s work is characterised by a deep exploration of soundscapes, voice manipulation, and the integration of traditional instruments with non-traditional sound techniques. His music often reflects socio-political narratives and personal experiences, using sound to express the complex interplay between individuals and their environments.

Rumrum Chouke, a spectral guardian from Kashmiri folklore, is said to wander the forests and meadows, crowned with a burning luminescence. His tale speaks of humility, reverence for nature, and caution when venturing into the unknown. He also symbolizes resistance, a keeper of truths buried within the tumult of Kashmir’s history and a custodian of its ecological vulnerability. This project envisions the development and presentation of Rumrum Chouke as an anonymous sound art and experimental music persona. By grounding this mythic figure in Kashmir’s soundscapes and narratives, the project will create a persona that embodies the region’s beauty, resilience, and ongoing struggles with ecological deterioration and socio-political upheaval.