Kargil: Crossroads of Trade and Culture | June 13, 2015 | Kargil, Jammu & Kashmir
India Foundation for the Arts
in collaboration with
Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian & Kargil Trade Artifacts
is proud to present
Kargil: Crossroads of Trade and Culture
An exhibition curated by Latika Gupta
Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian and Kargil Trade Artifacts
Lankore Road, Lankore, Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir - 194103
Preview on Saturday | June 13, 2015 | 04:00 PM to 6:00 PM
On view from June 14, 2015
Supported by
INLAKS Shivdasani Foundation
Latika Gupta received the Archival & Museum Fellowship, which supports creative practitioners to engage with archival & museum collections, from India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in 2014, to curate the permanent exhibition of the Munshi Aziz Bhatt Museum of Central Asian & Kargil Trade Artifacts, Kargil.
The museum is a symbol of the rich, pluralistic history of Kargil, which lay at the crossroads of trade routes from Punjab, Srinagar, Baltistan, Khotan, Yarkand and Tibet until the mid-20th century. The exhibitionKargil:Crossroads of Trade and Culture highlights the once cosmopolitan history of the region through the many communities and individuals (including porters, foreign travellers, traders and common and elite local customers) associated with trade who lived and worked in Kargil. The exhibition aims to contextualise trade artefacts and objects of everyday use by underlining the relationships between things and the people who used them, in order to activate historic objects to make them relevant to contemporary audiences.
The Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian & Kargil Trade Artifacts is a family operated museum dedicated to preserving the legacy of Munshi Aziz Bhat (1866-1948) a silk route trader who built one of the first caravanserais in Kargil. The sarai was constructed in 1920 and became the central hub of trading activities in Kargil. The building which had remained locked for many years re-opened in 2004 and the treasures found within it now form the bulk of the present collection in the museum. For more on the museum and its collection visit www.kargilmuseum.org
The curator Latika Gupta studied at St Stephen's College and the Collage of Art and is currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Culture Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She has received fellowships from Charles Wallace India Trust and Nehru Trust for research projects and has worked as a curator at the National Gallery of Modern Art and KHOJ International Artists' Association in Delhi, besides curating independent exhibitions. Her recent publications include articles in MARG and Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India published by the San Jose Musuem of Art and University of California Press.
This fellowship is supported by the INLAKS Shivdasani Foundation and IFA.
INLAKS Shivdasani Foundation is a charitable trust committed to identifying exceptionally talented young people and providing the most appropriate assistance for the development of such talent.
India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is a national, not-for-profit, grant making organisation that supports practice, research and education in the arts in India.
For more on the event please contact muzammil@kargilmuseum.org