PEOPLE

Akhila Krishnan is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary designer and director working across fine art, graphic narrative, moving image, projection design for live experience/VR and collaborative practice. Originally trained in design and film at the Royal College of Art (London) and the National Institute of Design (India). She is a member of the Kadak Collective, a group of South Asian female artists working in comics and graphic narrative. She is part of the core editorial team on the Bystander Anthology- the collective's upcoming publication featuring 55 artists and creatives of South Asian origin from across 13 countries. 

I'm an indigenous artist based in Bombay. Centred around the culture of DIY, self-publishing and guerrilla poster I believe in creating art that is grounded in the act of ‘doing’ and addresses political/ social issues. The core of my art practice is healing as I work with experiences of marginalisation and resilience, my own and the people I work in collaboration with.

​

Amol Lalzare is a Filmmaker, community correspondent with Video Volunteers, and also an autorickshaw driver. Lalzare lives and works in Bombay and often collaborates with the residents at home in Sathenagar. Through his work, Lalzare highlights issues of healthcare, housing and sanitation giving voice to the plight of citizens living in similar bastis. Through his documentary practice Amol creates a dialogue on accountability for the negligence and marginalisation as a logic of governance in the city.  At C13 Lab, Amol conducted workshops on citizen journalism with the young members of ACORN to produce documentary on the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on the recycling industry of the 13th Compound.

Dr Ben Parry is an artist, curator and practice-led researcher based in London. He received his BA in Environmental Art from Glasgow School of Art, an MA in Urban Planning from the University of Liverpool and PhD from the University of the West of Scotland. Working internationally, his projects employ a wide range of mediums including film, photography, light, sound and machines. His research and practice explores the intersections of art intervention, urbanism and activism, and the self-organising systems of the user-generated city.

Graham Jeffery is Reader in Arts and Media and Education Lead for Culture & Creativity in the School of Business & Creative Industries, UWS. His work spans participatory and community arts practices, creative pedagogies, cultural policy and urban and community development. Graham has worked as a teacher, composer and facilitator in a wide range of contexts, including work with London International Festival of Theatre, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and East London Dance. He has led numerous action research projects with diverse communities in different places around the world. He keeps a blog at www.generalpraxis.org.uk.

Ian Dawson is Lecturer, Fine Art - Sculpture within Winchester School of Art at the University of Southampton. Ian has exhibited his work in solo exhibitions in New York, London, Paris and Berlin, including a recent commission for the Goss Michael Foundation, Texas. His interests lie in contemporary sculpture and collage. He is currently enjoying creating material-based workshops for the House of Fairy Tales, an anarchic travelling arts organisation.

Kattyayani is an Independent researcher.

Areas of research are postmodern irony and humour as political rhetorics 

Believes in working in an ethnographic mode through community-based inquiries into questions of personhood and citizenship.

Kaveri Gill is a political economist and Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University, New Delhi. Her work focuses on urbanisation, informality, social policy and development. She has researched and written extensively on the waste sector, public health and welfare programmes in India, as well as on the conceptualisation and application of inclusiveness within the policy sphere

 ​

-

Mrugren Rathod was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State, India. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in visual art (sculpture) from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Vadodara, Gujarat. Based in Baroda, Rathod has exhibited across India. His exhibition with Art-in-Buildings was the first presentation of his work in the United States. In his residencies and general practice, Rathod attempts to be aware of socio-political-cultural settings, and he has incorporated these issues in his work to address the larger questions of ecology/environmental implications. 

Dr Penny Hay is an artist and educator, Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries; Senior Lecturer in Arts Education, School of Education, Bath Spa University and Director of Research, House of Imagination (arts based charity). Signature projects include School Without Walls, House of Imagination and Forest of Imagination. Penny’s doctoral research focused on how we support children’s learning identity as artists. Penny is a member of the RSA Innovative Education Network, Crafts Council Learning Advisory Group and Visiting Lecturer at Plymouth College of Art.

​

Prutha Jain completed Bachelor’s in Fine arts from Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in 2019 and Master’s from Shiv Nadar University in 2021. My works are an attempt at understanding the idea of local vernacular vs. the classical, which enjoys mobility, and understand through it the classical of contemporary. Whilst interrogating interiors and objects producing sociability, and in them using flora as a democratized medium of interaction and collaboration.

Sharmila Samant is Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Design and Performance at the Shiv Nadar University. She graduated in Sculpture from Sir J. J. School of Arts, which was followed by a diploma in Interior Design, a Fellowship at the Kanoria Center for Arts, Ahmedabad, and artist-residencies at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and at Gasworks in London. Samant was one of the founders of the Mumbai-based collective, Open Circle that sought to engage with contemporary socio-political issues via an integration of theory and practice. Negotiating in both private and public spheres, Samant has engaged in collaborative and participatory art projects with various communities while exploring ideas of exchange, accessibility and authorship. 

Vidya is an Urban Studies scholar and practitioner who is dedicated to contributing to the emerging body of ‘Southern Urbanism’. Vidya is a recipient of several scholarships including the Vice-Chancellor’s India fellowship for pursuing PhD in Urban Studies at the University of Sheffield. At Compound13 Lab, Vidya is involved in the BA funded ‘Waste, Water and Well-Being’ project that aims to foreground lessons from the interface of formal/informal Urban Systems in Dharavi, Mumbai. One of the key insights, Vidya is increasingly interested in, is regarding the transition of the ‘hyper-marginalised’ people (the infra-labour) engaged in waste collection and recycling from what Kalyan Sanyal terms as ‘need economy’ to accumulation economy. In his spare time, Vidya teaches guitar and music to the ACORN foundation kids in Dharavi.

Vinod Shetty is the Director of the ACORN Foundation India, and he is an advocate practicing at the Mumbai High Court. He has been working on communal harmony, environmental protection and human rights for a number of years. And he has also been the delegation leader for the Indo-Pakistan Seeds of Peace program.