Throughout recent developments in India’s political and cultural history, issues of industrialization, globalization, and social mobility have challenged definitions of identity. Contemporary artists working in India and abroad have attempted to navigate these changes, exploring both individual and collective responses to identity in their work. This lecture examines how Indian artists have utilized iconic cultural imagery to both challenge and confront these issues in contemporary society.

Dr. Kerry Lucinda Brown is a specialist in South Asian and Himalayan art and a professor of art history at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Her research focuses on the art and architecture of Nepal, addressing issues of image veneration, pilgrimage, sacred landscapes, and ritual performance. Brown has traveled throughout South Asia and the Himalayas since 1999 and has received numerous grants to conduct research in the region, including a Fulbright fellowship to Nepal. She has lectured widely on South Asian visual culture and frequently collaborates with museums on educational programming related to Asian art and culture.

This program has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor