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Illuminating India

Illuminating India was a season of exhibitions and events that celebrated India’s contribution to science, technology and mathematics.

At its heart were two free major exhibitions: 5000 Years of Science and Innovation and Photography 1857–2017. Respectively, they presented a kaleidoscopic history of scientific breakthroughs in India and a unique photographic survey of the country’s technological and cultural development. Illuminating India commemorated 70 years of Independence and was part of the British Council’s UK/India Year of Culture.


Main image:  Party Field, Janakpur, Nepal, 2016, from the series A Myth of Two Souls (2013–) © Vasantha Yogananthan

Exhibitions

Illuminating India: 5000 Years of Science and Innovation

From some of the earliest cities to interplanetary exploration, Indian innovation in science, technology and mathematics has dramatically shaped the world we live in today.

5000 Years of Science and Innovation revealed how the Mughal emperors conserved nature in the 16th century, how 20th century mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan revolutionised mathematics, and how the Indian Space Research Organisation sent a camera to Mars for less than the cost of the film Gravity.

Curator Matt Kimberley shows you nine objects not to miss in the exhibition.

Explore some of the objects from 5000 Years of Science and Innovation:

Illuminating India: Photography 1857–2017

This exhibition brought to light the previously overlooked Indian photographers who worked in parallel with their foreign counterparts from the 1850s onwards.

Pivoting around two key dates—1857, the year of the Mutiny and 1947, the year of Independence and Partition—it was an ambitious survey of the technological and artistic development of photography in India that examined the role the medium has played in charting the country’s modern history.

Among the images were works by Samuel Bourne, art photography pioneer Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and award-winning contemporary photographer Vasantha Yogananthan.

Curator Shasti Lowton takes you through India's 150 year relationship with photography.

Explore some of the works from Photography 1857–2017:

India Illuminated!

Artist Chila Kumari Burman’s work challenges stereotypical assumptions of South Asia. We are proud to have commissioned her to create a series of artworks, collectively entitled India Illuminated!, that represent her response to the objects and stories in Illuminating India: 5000 Years of Science and Innovation. These works were displayed at the entrance to the exhibition.

India Illuminated!

Part of an exciting series of events marking the UK–India Year of Culture 2017–18, which will celebrate the vibrant cultural history of the two countries.

United Kingdom / India 2017
British Council
The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts logo

The Illuminating India events programme is presented in partnership with:

Logo of the Bagri Foundation

The Illuminating India season has additional support from:

The Helen Hamlyn Trust
The John S Cohen Foundation.