Priya Jaradi

A bachelor’s degree in Ancient Indian Culture and Archaeology (University of Mumbai, 2000) and training in Indian classical dance groomed my life-long interest in the visual and performing arts. I pursued a Master’s in Art History and Archaeology at SOAS, London (2001). My first job offered a wide-ranging curatorial and research opportunity at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. I worked on a blockbuster exhibition, Portrait of a Community: Paintings and Photographs of the Parsees (2002). This project sowed the seeds for my interest in collection studies which matured in my doctoral work and publications.

I moved to Singapore in 2005 and worked as Assistant Curator (South Asia) at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM). The ACM’s forward-thinking narratives honed my understanding of object and exhibition-based pedagogies. Through my doctoral study at the South Asian Studies Programme, NUS (2008-2012), I engaged with archival records in Baroda (Gujarat), an erstwhile princely state. The thesis culminated in a monograph, Fashioning a National Art: Baroda’s Royal Collection and Institutions (1875-1924), Oxford University Press (2016) to reveal links between princely modernities and nationalisms in South Asia. Since, I have developed a deep interest in mobilizing provincial archives for art historical research.

My close involvement with museums and academia have aligned in my current role as Convenor of a young art history programme, established in collaboration with the National Gallery Singapore. In keeping with the multi-disciplinary ethos of my past projects, I hope to grow the Art History Minor and inspire students to emerge as practitioners, curators and scholars in and around the field.

TEACHING AREAS

• Theories, Methods and Approaches in Art History
• Art, Empire and Nationalisms
• Collecting Practices in Europe and Asia
• Princely Modernities in South Asia

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Digital Art Histories
• India-Singapore Museum Diplomacies
• South Asia in Singapore’s Museums
• Decolonizing Museums and Art History’s Pedagogies
• NUS Museum’s Collection Histories

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

• Member, Research Panel, National Gallery Singapore (2021-2024)
• Member, Committee for Career Advancement for FASS Educators (CAFE), NUS (2021-2022)
• Member, Acquisitions‘ Committee, NUS Museum, (2020-2022)
• Subject Editor, Transcultural Objects, Global Nineteenth Century Studies, Liverpool University Press

SELECT PUBLICATIONS & EXHIBITIONS

Monograph

• Fashioning India’s National Art: Baroda’s Royal Art Collection, Art Institutions and Crafts at Colonial Exhibitions (1875-1924), Oxford University Press, New Delhi (2016).

Edited Volume

• Baroda: A Cosmopolitan Provenance in Transition, Edited by Priya Maholay-Jaradi. Marg Publications, Mumbai (2015).

Articles, Chapters, and Essays

• “Ode to the Global Head”, Conversation with Yinka Shonibare and Zehra Jumabhoy in ART India, Volume 24, Issue 1, Quarter 1, Mumbai (2020)
• “Figures of Thought, Objects of Experience”, ART India, Volume XIX, Issue III, Quarter III, Mumbai (2015).
• “The Influence of Classical Indian Dance and Literature on Raja Ravi Varma’s Works” in Historical Development of Contemporary Indian Art, Ratan Parimoo & Sandip Sarkar (Eds); Lalit Kalā Akademi, New Delhi (2009).
• “Portrait of a Community: Paintings and Photographs of the Parsees,” Chemould Publications and Arts Trust, Mumbai (2002).

Exhibitions

• 2017: Flows and Contours. A faculty-led installation at AS8, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.
• 2012: Tautology of Memory. Video Installation on the Colonial, National and Contemporary interpretations of the Buddhist site of Ajanta, Western India, NUS Museum, Singapore.
• 2007: Beauty in Asia: 200 BCE to Today. A pan-Asian enquiry into ideals of beauty, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore.
• 2002: Portrait of a Community. A display of 17th-19th Century portraits and photographs of the Parsis, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai.