Book Launch
The Memory Keepers and Future Seekers
Ulka Chauhan, Samira Sheth and Robert Stephens
Attend the book launch of The Memory Keepers and Future Seekers by Ulka Chauhan and Samira Sheth.
Featuring six heritage homes, this book explores themes of architecture, culture, heritage, anthropology, identity and belonging. It features photographs by Chauhan and text by Sheth and includes visual and literary portraits of Goa’s 300+ year old heritage homes, attempting to present their untold stories through a series of in-depth interviews with the home owners. A layered narrative, the book brings to light the stories of families and their fragments of memories while touching upon the historical, cultural, political, social and religious moments that shaped Goa.
In conversation with architect Robert Stephens, the two authors discuss their process, insights from their experience of putting this book together, and the relevance of looking at heritage through multiple lenses; as much personal, as historical and monumental.
Bookings
Ulka Chauhan
Ulka Chauhan is a photographer based in Mumbai, Goa and Zürich. Her work has been awarded at the PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, IPA International Photo Awards and TIFA Tokyo International Foto Awards in addition to being selected by the editors at the Leica Fotografie International Gallery as Master Shots and Best in Category. Her works have been a part of photo festivals such as the Venice Photo Lab, the Treviso Photographic Festival in 2021 and photoSCHWEIZ 22 in Zürich.
Her first book titled Two Worlds featured by Condé Nast Traveller contrasts and connects the linear and structured world of Switzerland with the chaotic and cyclical world of India.
Samira Sheth
Samira Sheth is an art writer and independent curator based in Goa. Her writings have been featured in several publications including the books, Two Worlds and The Memory Keepers and Future Seekers, in collaboration with photographer Ulka Chauhan and the premier art quarterly, The Art News Magazine of India, among others. Always seeking to build bridges between communities through the arts, Samira played a central role in co-founding art platforms such as anartexchange.com and breathearts.com and starting art columns for publications in Dubai and Goa.
She offers curatorial advice and exhibition & collection management through her independent outfit, Work of Art and has numerous exhibitions of contemporary Indian art to her credit across India and Dubai. Since making Goa her home over a decade ago, Samira has sought to learn about and share its rich artistic heritage with wider audiences. She has received several awards for her work with art in Goa and was a Jury member for the Fundação Oriente Visual Arts Award 2019, the first prize of its kind, initiated for artists in Goa.
Robert Stephens
Robert Stephens is the author of ‘Bombay Imagined, An Illustrated History of the Unbuilt City’, and the architect of the Urbs Indis Library & Garden, a publically-accessible rare-book collection in Bangalore, with a focus on Cities of India.
