Whitefield Diaries – Launch Event

Archana Prasad — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:43:29 +0000

EVENTS:

Release of Whitefield Diaries- a set of 6 short films at The Whitefield Club & at Jaaga

DATES & VENUES:

~~10 September, 2011 from 6 to 7:30pm at the Whitefield Club~~
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22 September, 2011, 7:30 to 9pm at Jaaga

PROGRAMME AT JAAGA

Greeting Refreshments from 7:30 to 8pm
Introduction to the project by Archana Prasad at 7:55pm
Screening of 6 short films from 8pm to 8:40pm
Panel Discussion from 8:45 to 9:15pm
Thank-you Note by Archana Prasad 9:20pm

DETAILS ON PANELISTS

Dr. Indira Chowdhury. Dr. Indira Chowdhury. Indira Chowdhury is at present a Scholar-in-Residence who has just initiated the Center for Public History at Srishti. Formerly professor of English at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, she has a PhD in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Her book, “The Frail Hero and Virile History”, (Oxford University Press, 1998) was awarded the Tagore Prize in 2001. She set up the archives of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and the archives of the Naadi Foundation and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, both in Hyderabad. She started one of the earliest archival consultancy services in India called Archival resources for Contemporary History (ARCH) in 2006, now relocated to Srishti. Her book “A Masterful Spirit: Homi Bhabha 1909-1966″ (Penguin) was released by APJ Abdul Kalam in June 2010.

Subramaniam Vincent – one of the newer residents of Whitefield, he is also uniquely positioned in his role as co-founder of Citizen Matters, a publication dedicated to city affairs, community and culture.

Aarti Mohan is one of the co-founders of the enterprise Sattva , a social development support company. She is the chief editor ofThe Alternative, an online social change publication as well as Prayas, a Community of Practice on Social Protection issues in India. When not obsessing about social issues (which isn’t often), Aarti, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, performs in the city.

Clemence Barret – is a French artist and filmmaker. She has made many documentaries for French TV Channels like Canal + and Arte. She started her collaboration with Jaaga in late 2010 as an artist in residence and created an installation called “Miss miss hop o’ & friends” about nomadism. Since then she is actively collaborating with Jaaga Media Center directing short documentaries.

Krupa Rajangam – is a Conservation Architect with special interest in the role of community in conservation. She is the Principal Architect at Saythu. Krupa has undertaken numerous visiting scholarships towards the same to extend her knowledge base and delve deeper into the subject. In fact she is currently trialing her dream project – ‘Nakshay’ – where community maps its (local) heritage – an outcome of her research into the community’s role, she considers this exciting project will be a way to not just increase awareness of local heritage but cause people to take pride in it.

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PROGRAMME AT WHITEFIELD CLUB:

Introduction by Krupa Rajangam
Screening of 4 short films from the Whitefield Diaries
‘Whitefield Day‘ – Note by Sean Lawrence
Tea Break
Screening of 2 short films from the Whitefield Diaries
Panel Discussion – focusing on issues raised in the films and what the community can do towards the same.

PANELISTS AT THE WHITEFIELD CLUB EVENT:
Mr Asvathnarayan - a retired IAS officer, he is presently Convener of the Karnataka Chapter of INTACH.

Michael Ludgrove - is Curator Collections, the Royal House of Mysore. Of Anglo-Indian origin, he is a descendant of D S White who was instrumental in establishing the settlement at Whitefield. Before his current position, he was with Christie’s and is an expert on rare books and manuscripts. He was instrumental in letting the research team view a rare copy of D S White’s original Guide to the Anglo-Indian Settlements which details his vision.

Deepa Peck - long term resident of Whitefield, she is married into the Peck family – one of the original settlers of Whitefield. She is also Treasurer of the Whitefield Settlers’ & Residents’ Association, which was established way back in 1905.

Subramaniam Vincent - one of the newer residents of Whitefield, he is also uniquely positioned in his role as co-founder of Citizen Matters, a publication dedicated to city affairs, community and culture.

Clemence Barret - is a French artist and filmmaker. She has made many documentaries for French TV Channels like Canal + and Arte. She started her collaboration with Jaaga in late 2010 as an artist in residence and created an installation called “Miss miss hop o’ & friends” about nomadism. Since then she is actively collaborating with Jaaga Media Center directing short documentaries.

Moderated by Krupa Rajangam

Vote of Thanks – Archana Prasad

What is Neighbourhood Diaries

Archana Prasad — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:39:05 +0000

WHAT IS NEIGHBOURHOOD DIARIES

Neighbourhood Diaries is a collaborative project conceived by Krupa Rajangam of Saythu, and Archana Prasad of Jaaga.

Based in Bangalore, the two of them initially collaborated on an open-to-public initiative by Max Mueller Bhavan – the Bangalore City Project. Whilst working on this project they realised the importance of neighbourhood histories. Of involving the residents of a locality in the process of excavating, documenting and engaging them in discovering secrets, truths and novelties that made their neighbourhood special.

Neighbourhood Diaries was a natural continuation of this idea seeded in the Bangalore City Project initiated by Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe Institut – Bangalore. The notion of documenting the oral, tangible and intangible heritage of neighbourhoods using the short film format began to take shape.

A partnership between Saythu – Krupa’s and Pankaj Modi’s firm working in the conservation architecture space and Jaaga Media Center – Archana and Clemence Barret’s firm dedicated to using the power of digital media technologies to document public and personal histories was formed. Both organizations are keenly interested in generating public awareness of stories and issues around the city’s socio-cultural heritage. Neighbourhood Diaries is this new partnerships’ debut project.