Guided Walk
A Fragrance Walk at Lalbagh Botanical Garden
Abhishek Khan
Magnolia campbellii H.f. & T; Illustrations of Himalayan Plants; Author & Artist: Joseph Dalton Hooker; Lithographer: Walter Hood Fitch; 1855; Image courtesy of the Missouri Botanical Garden Library via the Biodiversity Heritage Library
In this walk, Abhishek Khan traces the backstory of the few surviving—and many lost—flowers and plants that were painted in Lalbagh. As we observe the fragrant flowers and leaves around us, we learn how today’s botanical collection are a product of the aesthetics established by colonial empire, continuing to influence what we see in gardens today.
This programme is in conjunction with MAP’s ongoing exhibition, Paper Gardens: Art, Botany and Empire.
Bookings
Abhishek Khan
Abhishek Khan is a research-based artist, designer, and storyteller who works under the pen name Hand Jobs Inc. His practice explores the relationships between people, memory, and the natural world, with a particular focus on trees as living archives of ecological and cultural knowledge. Through storytelling, design, and public engagement, he seeks to challenge “tree blindness” and reintegrate trees into everyday awareness.
Khan is the founder of LalBagh.info, an independent, publicly accessible digital archive dedicated to Bengaluru’s iconic Lalbagh Botanical Garden. The platform documents flowering cycles, plant histories, and seasonal changes within the garden, and includes resources such as the Flower Finder, self-guided Fragrance Walk, and a publicly accessible Flower Calendar that tracks blooms throughout the year.
As a designer, Khan has developed visual identities and communication systems for cultural and creative initiatives, including the brand identity for General Items. Across his work, he combines research, design, and narrative practices to create accessible ways of engaging with ecology, place, and collective memory.
