Deepali Dewan

Every 2 years the South and Southeast Asian art historians of North America gather to share new research and ideas at the American Committee for Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) Symposium. It is a lovely collegial gathering and I get to see friends and colleagues, old and new. This year it was generously hosted by @natasianart in DC. Also seen: the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond @smithsoniannmnh and the grand architecture of the National Museum of African American History and Culture @nmaahc . That last image is of sweet potato samosas by @rasikadc ! It was weird to be in DC. The streets were eerily void of people. Except in the Chinatown area.

Congrats @mfaboston curator Laura Weinstein and her team for a fantastic exhibition “Divine Color” on Indian Calendar Art from Bengal. Such great contextualizing elements and the poster wall at the end was spectacular.

Thank you Boston for a brief but art-filled visit to see works at @harvardartmuseums and @mfaboston collections. But can we talk about how the “great American” artist James McNeill Whistler copied Japanese landscape painting?

Raghu Rai’s passing this week has me thinking about this publication project from 2023 that I had the honour to work on, thanks to @durjoybangladeshfoundation @durjoydhaka @khans123 @raghurai.official . It was a chance to look closely at this giant of a photographer’s images, in which he seems to hover above, gaze from below, and stand in the midst of the objects and scenes he records. Anything but at a detached respectable distance. Skin looks like terrain, land blends with flesh, and fabric takes the form of architecture. None other than Henri Cartier-Bresson nominated him to Magnum Photos is 1977. These images are of 1971 Bangladesh’s Liberation War. In the book Raghu Rai writes of going to the border of East Pakistan in August of that year at peak monsoon and witnessing what would become 10 million refugees entering India. I have always wondered about this time in history since I was born a short distance away in Delhi in the middle of it in October of 1971. Remarkably, Rai didn’t rediscover his own negatives of these images until 2012. A selection was published at the time. The full set not until 2023. All images: Raghu Rai, Bangladesh: Rise of A Nation, Raghu Rai Foundation and Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, 2023.

#incense #francinsence #realtime

Fun day hosting a table on analog #photography with @natashayokoyama from @fppcm_tmu during @romtoronto #marchbreak activities. The most popular item? Kids loved the feel of a 35mm instamatic camera—looking through the view hole, the click of the shutter, pushing the lever to advance the film. A novelty for them!

We have several paid summer internship opportunities @romtoronto . Details and application: https://www.rom.on.ca, search “careers”, click “View our latest opportunities” Apply by April 3, 2026. #art #culture #southasia #china #africa

Our lab-grown #diamond from #India is here. See unboxing video @romtoronto . It will be displayed in an upcoming exhibition on the India Ocean. For centuries, the world’s source of diamonds was India.

Our biennial textiles grant is back! It is open to anyone anywhere in the world. Please consider applying and circulate widely. For details, criteria, and application: Rom.on.ca, search “IARTS” Or https://www.rom.on.ca/collections-researches/rom-research/iarts-textile-india-grant-call-applications-2026 @romtoronto @atextilescurator

Happy Diwali 2025.

A meaningful example of reseaech co-creation in a pop-up exhibition “In the Quiet of Everyday Life” @uoftmississauga w Hema Ganapathy-Coleman and community participants. “This exhibition reveals what often remains invisible….community members demonstrate that home is something they actively create each day.” @csachatutm @uoftmississaugaresearch

“Visual Kinship” exhibition @hoodmuseum @dartmouthcollege — explores the notion of family as not fixed but as a shifting notion of personal and political kinship often mediated, recognized, claimed and contested through photography. Images: - Nancy E. Rivera, Family Portrait series, 2020, embroidery floss cross-stitched cotton - exhibition tour during International Association of Visual Culture conference - Nomusa Makhubu, Omama Bencelisa, 2014 - Latoya Ruby Fraser, Grandma Ruby Mom and Me at Mom’s House, 2005 - Binh Danh, Ghost of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum #3, 2008, Daguerreotype - Sim Chi Yin @chiyin_sim , The Suitcase is a Little bit Rotten, 2022-2023, installation with magic lantern slides, video - artist talk by Sim Chi Yin Co-curated by Thy Phu @my___menagerie @iykoday @kimberlyjuanitabrown @alisaswindell