Community Engagement for Cultural Preservation | Ishita Shah | TEDxMAHE Bengaluru

Who does history belong to? This is an urgent question for our times, as so much of history is being destroyed, erased and rewritten and marginalized, says Ishita Shah, historian, designer and curator. It is here that bringing in communities as co-authors and collaborators helps increase custodianship of, and belongingness to heritage. While dwelling on how community engagement in practices of archiving and curating are crucial, Ishita calls for being mindful in practising the logics and ethics of care in such engagements. Ishita Shah is trained as an interior designer and an architectural historian. Over the last few years, she has been developing a community-based curatorial practice, which focuses on cultural preservation and creative collaborations across individuals, families, and organizations invested in building a culture for archiving in India and across South Asia. Her work is situated under the aegis of a self-founded collective, Curating for Culture.

Ishita has worked with Biome Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd. to curate their recent publication, Biome Diaries: Ecological Architecture from India, as well as collaborated with organizations like the National Centre for Biological Sciences, INTACH Bengaluru, Arthshila Ahmedabad, the Ministry of Culture India; to curate and develop a wide range of public interpretation projects. She has been an educator and coordinator to the UNESCO Chair in Culture, Habitat, and Sustainable Development at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx