Talks
Art in the Public Eye
Poornima Sukumar, Ajay Raghavan, Giulia Ambrogi, Janet Orlene
Murals, sculptures, installations – public art in all its diverse forms is deeply rooted in visualising the invisible by locating itself in everyday encounters. Public art also provides a physical and visual subversion to passerbys, encouraging them to look at the site of the installation through a new lens and learn beyond what is obviously visible. Through the years, many collectives have come up across the country helping street artists forge connections with cities and their various inhabitants through place-making projects.
Join speakers Poornima Sukumar, Ajay Raghavan and Giulia Ambrogi in conversation with Janet Orlene as they explore the role art collectives play in transforming cities and its residents through public art, how both the process and artworks serve to facilitate engagement in these spaces, and how they provide new access points to the art world.
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Ajay Raghavan
Co-Founder, Bangalore Creative Circus
One of the top employment lawyers in the world, Ajay Raghavan was a senior partner at India’s leading law firm, Trilegal, where he built one of the most successful legal practices in the country. After being deeply influenced by what was happening with the planet, Ajay decided to focus his attention on sustainability and climate change. He is incredibly passionate about art, science, sustainability, and wellbeing.
Ajay is a strong believer in regenerative cultures, empathy, design thinking and collaborative frameworks. He is a co-founder at the Initiative for Climate Action, a non-profit with a vision to catalyze, enable and accelerate low carbon futures of justice and sustainability through collaborative action. He is also a co-founder at Bangalore Creative Circus, a 20,000 sq feet Urban Living Lab in Bangalore that was set up to build awareness and promote solutions around sustainable and conscious living, using art and science as mediums to draw people into the conversation. He is also on the Board of Dream a Dream, a non-profit that works on empowering children from vulnerable backgrounds. Ajay loves art, music, sport, and creativity.
Poornima Sukumar
Founder, Aravani Art Project
Poornima Sukumar is the Founder/Director of the Aravani Art Project. She is a muralist, artist and visual storyteller, who loves travelling and teaching.
She is involved in work that enables to connect with society in various ways. She is privileged to receive opportunities which work with social causes and human welfare, widely with children, women and transgender. Since she is a vivid traveller, her work takes her to different parts of the world where she bridges art and social awareness. She is able to implement art and reach out to as many people as possible, intertwining their journey into creating awareness, rehabilitation and inclusion, artistically.
Janet Orlene
Learning Facilitator
Janet Orlene is an empathy architect. She designs life skill-based life lessons as part of an experiential learning-based curriculum. As an Experience Designer, she has worked with some of the top companies and passion-driven individuals in India to create unique experiences in multiple fields. She has also facilitated over 15000 people across the country.
Her last journey was an 850+ km solo walk down the coastline of Kerala to Kanyakumari in 62 days documenting the stories of people and the planet. She is also a naturalist, spoken word poet, performer, and artist. An enthusiastic environmentalist, she believes in the deep connection between nature and humanity.
Giulia Ambrogi
Co-Founder, St+Art India Foundation
Giulia Ambrogi is a contemporary art curator. With a Masters in History of Contemporary Art and Management of Cultural Heritage, she started her career at the contemporary art Museum – MAXXI, in Rome. Subsequently, she committed herself to spread the culture of public and urban art, with a focus on the Italian and Indian landscape. She curated and initiated a few Street Art festivals in Italy and in 2014, she co-founded St+art India Foundation – India’s first platform for urban contemporary art.
In 2018 she co-founded XXL Collective – an international creative agency that curates experiential art events for leading global brands as well as site-specific art interventions in private spaces. She has been lecturing in several universities both in Italy and India and has been invited as a speaker in TED X talks, TV shows and relevant conferences around the themes of public art and smart cities.
