This Week In Culture: South Asian Swan Lake, Indian Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, & More

In September 2022, I was in the UK to attend the Mogford Prize award ceremony in Oxford as one of the four short-listed writers that year. As a young writer and artist, I was incredibly fortunate to spend two weeks between Oxford and London without having to worry about work or expenses as part of that trip, and I spent most of my time in London at the imperial city's many art galleries and museums. I'd spend days soaking in the art and artefacts at the V&A, the British Museum, the British Library, and the Tate Modern in-between frequent trips to the Globe theatre, the Kew Gardens, and iconic London bookstores like Foyles, Lutyens and Rubinstein, Waterstones, and the Southbank Centre Book Market.

During one of these days at the British Museum, I spent an entire day at the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World — an expansive exhibition of objects and artefacts from the Islamic sphere of influence that once spanned from the Middle East to India. "You should be here," I remember telling one of my closest friends at the time, who belongs to the Dawoodi Bohra community. "I wish I could photograph everything on display and show you".

"Wow," my friend replied. "I have never seen a complete exhibit on Islam."

Our brief exchange made me think about the fidelity of our histories and official archives — about what is preserved and what is erased.

From an archival art project that asks and tries to answer this very question to a photoseries that captured a pivotal decade in India's feminist movement, here's what we have for you this week:

Attend An Indian Festival Aiming To Sustainably Empower Himalayan Communities

Iconic motorbike-makers Royal Enfield is celebrating its love affair with the mountains through Journeying Across the Himalayas as a homage to the people, stories, and traditions that make the Himalayas truly timeless. Taking place from December 5 to 15, 2024, at Travancore Palace, New Delhi, the festival is an immersive 10-day journey into the heart of Himalayan culture, through its art, music, food, and conversation to spotlight the region’s spirit. Disha has all the details here.

'Dream Your Museum' Explores The Complexity Of Minority Existence In Contemporary India

Indian artist Khandakar Ohida was announced as the recipient of Victoria and Albert Musuem's 2024 Jameel Prize for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic traditions earlier this week. Her prize-winning project, 'Dream Your Museum' and a selection of commonplace objects from her uncle Khandakar Selim's collection will be on view at GABAA, Santiniketan, as part of the inaugural edition of the Bengal Biennale.

Learn more about the project here.

Raw Foundry Is Helping Emerging Indian Designers Reimagine Our Regenerative Future

Raw Foundry, a regenerative design incubator programme, is the result of a synergistic partnership between Orange Tree, a Jodhpur-based sustainable furniture studio, and Raw Collaborative, one of India's most distinguished design symposium. Learn more about the programme here.

The Black Swan's Renaissance: Watch A South Asian Reimagining Of A Tchaikovsky Classic

Conceptualised, written, and creatively produced by Jayashree Ganesan, the founder of Saffron Creative House — a digital media collective based in Texas, USA — 'The Black Swan's Renaissance' brings Indian classical dance to younger, global audiences in a tangible, new-age light with this re-imagination of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake through Bharatnatyam and Odissi performances choreographed to the 'Swan Theme' from the ballet. Learn more about the film here.

Watch A Documentary That Tells The Story Of India's Pioneering Sea Turtle Conservationist

'Turtle Walker', Taira Malaney's directorial debut, tells the story of Satish Bhaskar — a pioneer in the field of sea turtle conservation — from his early trips to India's remote islands to his life-long pursuit of protecting these beautiful endangered animals. Learn more about this sentimental portrait of the man and the magnificent marine creatures that he loved so much here.

Radiohead Meets Ragas: A 'Creep' Cover By A Mother-Son Duo Is Bridging Two Generations

Music has this uncanny ability to transcend boundaries. It’s this universal power that makes the internet lose its collective mind when something magical happens, like a mother-son duet blending Radiohead’s iconic Creep with the ancient strains of Hindustani classical music. Featuring Avie Sheck, an LA-based artist and his mum, this cover is a fusion that bridges generations, geographies, and genres. Learn more here.

SYEYL's Latest EP Explores The Dream-Like Space Between Memory & Imagination

On his latest EP Temporal Drift, Delhi-based electronica artist SYEYL explores this day-dreamy space between memory and imagination. At its heart, Temporal Drift is a study in contrasts: the push and pull between the organic and the synthetic, the past and the present, and the known and the unknown, Disha writes here.

Warm Your Heart With India’s Toastiest Winter Brews

Certain herbs, spices and grains are part of the winter food cycle in India that homegrown kitchens naturally gravitate towards. These ingredients, adapted by different cuisines and cultures across India form elixirs that strengthen our immune system and keep us warm throughout the cold days. Disha spills the tea on India's best winter brews here.

India’s First Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur

Quaffine is "India’s First Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur". Crafted from 100% Arabica beans sourced from Chikmagalur, Quaffine proudly highlights the Indian terroir of its flavours and has come out with blazing recognition on a global level. To learn more, head over to Fathima's article here.

A Mahira Vohra Photoseries Captures The Lives, Loves, & Legacies Of Indian Women

The series is a quiet letter written by young Indian women to the world they have been asked to make sense of. The rules of this world were hammered in. Don’t laugh too loud. Don’t take up too much space. Don’t — whatever you do — forget your place. Against this weight of expectation, Mahira asks: What happens if we do? Anahita writes about the series here.

A Malavika Jayaram Photoseries Pays Homage To The Way Magazines Shape Culture & Identity

Malavika Jayaram's photoseries, 'from the pages', pays tribute to the collective impact and influence of magazines, particularly in the way that they shape creativity and individuality. Learn more about the series here.

Reach For The Stars With India's First Astro Tourism Experience

Nakshatra Sabha is an year-long celebration of the cosmos, with each chapter unfolding in breathtaking corners of Uttarakhand. Rudraprayag, the next destination in this stellar saga, promises to take things to another level. Disha has all the details here.

'Seven Lives & A Dream' Is An Archive Of 10 Years Of Indian Indigenous Feminism

Presented at Tate Modern as 'Seven Lives & A Dream', this series takes us into a transformative decade of feminist activism in India, offering a rare and profound window into a movement fighting for survival and change. Disha writes about Sheba Chhachhi's seminal photo series here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

'Seven Lives & A Dream' Is An Archive Of 10 Years Of Indian Indigenous Feminism

Museums Of Our Own: Archival Projects Documenting South Asia's Family Histories

Aakriti Chandervanshi’s Archival Photoseries Examines The Hidden Inner Selves Of Women