South Asia

Anuj Malhotra is a critic, curator, and filmmaker based out of New Delhi, India. In 2012, he founded Lightcube, an acclaimed film collective, regularly touted as one of the leading resources for pioneering research and presentation of image-forms in the country. He also helped conceive the theoretical model for The Dhenuki Cinema Project, a multifaceted and versatile project that mobilizes populations in rural and semi-urban areas of the country through the medium of film. Anuj also publishes Umbra, the country’s only newspaper devoted to the study of the topographies of alternative film in India, alongwith handling the curatorial duties for The Garga Archives, a digital museum dedicated to the life and work of B.D. Garga, one of the foremost authorities on the history of film in the world.

Anuj’s work has been cited and published in such prestigious publications as photogenie, Senses of Cinema, mubi.com, Bright Lights Film Journal, The Asian Age, Deccan Chronicle, Deep Focus Cinema, and cinea.be. In December 2022, Anuj was appointed to the editorial board of the prestigious film quarterly, photogenie. Mayadweep, a documentary on the politics of water in the desert state of Rajasthan, which he edited and directed, played at various festivals across the country. Furthermore, his films have been exhibited at such venues as the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Sheffield DocFest, FCDEP, IDFFSK, Kochi Biennale, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Habitat Film Festival and Microscope Gallery, alongwith being featured in the Senses of Cinema World Cinema Poll. A Flower in a Foglight (2022) and Blueprint of a Pleasure Machine (2023), two titles on which he worked as a writer and editor, premiered at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (2023). He recently finished work on The Many Interrupted Dreams of Mr. Hemmady (as sound designer), which was recognised as the Best Film in the International Competition section at the 2024 edition of the International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen.

He is currently at work on The Mapmaker from Baghdad, a project that charts a speculative cartography of underground film cultures in 1970s Bombay.

Bunu Dhungana’s artistic practice engages with personal, familial, and social realms, using photography, film, text, and curation. Through her work, she is interested in questioning the notions of gender and patriarchy and how these forces shape and influence women’s lives and experiences in society. Lately, she has been thinking about the inherent complexities and contradictions within these issues and the socio-political significance of art-making. Her process is intuitive and is driven by a desire to provoke conversations. She currently lives in Kathmandu, Nepal. 

Sandev Handy is a curator, artist and art educator based in Colombo. He serves as Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka, is one part of an artist collective called the Packet,and one part of an independent research studio, between Zurich, Makassar, Karachi and Colombo called the Studio for Memory Politics together with Vera Ryser, Angela Wittwer and Aziz Sohail. His research and practise cross nationhood and its de-colonial ruptures, Afro-Asian world-building and networks of solidarities, land politics, and botanical and bureaucratic naturalisms.

Sarah Rajper is a curator, graphic designer, and visual artist based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Her interdisciplinary practice delves into a wide array of themes, encompassing digital art, environmental conservation, social justice, and others. Rajper has served as Creative Producer and Co-Curator for Lahore Digital Arts Festival in 2023, Pakistan’s first digital art festival. She has worked with organisations such as the EU National Institutes for Culture, UNDP-Pakistan, Goethe-Institut Pakistan, World Bank Group, WWF-Pakistan, National Commission for Human Rights Pakistan, and various educational institutes, museums, galleries, and embassies in Pakistan. Her contributions were recognized with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Excellence Award, presented by the Governor of Punjab in 2023. Rajper holds a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication Design from the National College of Arts, and volunteers for initiatives on human rights advocacy, gender equality, mental health awareness, art education, and flood relief efforts.

Kehkasha Sabah is an independent curator, writer, and researcher from Bangladesh, with a decade of experience working locally and internationally. Kehkasha’s artistic approach lies at the intersection of art, culture, pedagogy, and technology, departing from curing the art ecosystem to producing narratives of care. Currently, pursuing academic research seeking new curatorial methodologies in post-pandemic and posthuman societies, focusing on collective resonance, social inclusion, ecological thinking, and decolonial perspectives. She has curated over twenty exhibitions and her most significant contributions include – Land Water and Border (2021), De|Real (2020), Collective Body (2020), Mercury Falling (2017), Alchemy of Losses (2017), Self/Identity (2016), and Celebrated Violence Series 1-5 (2016-2014). 

As a curator, Kehkasha aims to explore new artistic languages with a social commitment and as a researcher, she engages in projects that reexamine historical and cultural narratives, and provide scopes to build digital archives. Her notable roles include: serving as an Editorial Assistant for a research anthology of MoMA (NY), as a Research fellow contributing to Translocal Solidarity Network– a South Asian initiative of Goethe Institute (BD), and being appointed as the Curator of the 3rd Majhi International Art Residency 2021 (NL) by Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation. She has also held the position of Assistant Curator for a major project in Dhaka Art Summit 2020, which showcased forty art collectives from the global south. In addition, she was the former Art-lead Program Manager at Depart Magazine (BD) and a former Curator at Kalakendra (BD). Kehkasha holds a BFA and MFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka (BD) and has been present in various seminars, exhibitions, workshops, and talks. Her compelling writings have graced the pages of exhibition catalogs, artists’ books, and cultural publications. Her work was recognized with numerous accolades, including the Exceptional Talent Recognition Award 2018 from the Society for the Promotion of Bangladesh Art (SPBA) as the first woman curator of Bangladesh, the CIMAM travel grant ‘Museum in Transition’ 2018 in Sweden, and an Honorable Mention Award from Gonesh Haloi Young Researcher Grant 2017 from Bengal Foundation. She was also featured in the 2021 Swedish contemporary art journal C-Print as an emerging curator from Bangladesh.