CHITrA
Content
CHITrA: South Asian Art & Visual Culture at the University of Edinburgh
CHITrA is a network of scholars who bring a range of approaches to the study of the art and visual culture in South Asia in and around the University of Edinburgh. Originating in collaborative work between the Edinburgh College of Art and the School of Social and Political Sciences, our research network provides a home for empirically grounded, conceptually expansive and interdisciplinary scholarship that crosses the region and varied chronologies to engage fundamental issues and debates in the broad field of South Asian visual cultures. Our core membership includes of PGR students, postdocs and members of staff at the University of Edinburgh but we welcome students at all levels and colleagues from other institutions to be part of our community. CHITrA is part of the Centre for South Asian Studies in SPS.
CHITrA runs a number of recurring events that build and sustain our community. These include:
- CHITrA Path Chokro: the study circle is a reading and conversation group that provides a space for engaging with newly published scholarly works related to South Asian art and visual culture.
- CHITrA Screens: this is a loosely programmed film series that explores the moving image in all its facets.
- Unfinished Visions: A collaborative research series on South Asian visual culture
If you’d like to participate in any of these events, or would like to organise something under the CHITrA banner, please write to its director, Prof. Lotte Hoek, lotte.hoek@ed.ac.uk.
CHITrA was founded in 2019 by Dr. Yuthika Sharma, Prof. Ed Hollis and Prof. Lotte Hoek. In 2019 it facilitated the nineteenth chapter of the biannual symposium of the American Council for Southern Asian Art which took place at Edinburgh College of Art, 6-9 November, 2019. This was the first time the symposium took place outside North America. The programme can be viewed here.
Upcoming Events
2026
Screening: My Friend Papiya
Monday 15 June, 12-2pm, Seminar Room 1, Chrystal Macmillan Building.
My Friend Papiya, 25 mins, dir. Kazuyo Minamide
In 2000, I began my anthropological fieldwork in a village in Jamalpur, Bangladesh. I met a girl
named Papiya. She was two years old then, and I was 25. Yet we became good friends. The villagers called us shoy, best friends, in good humor. I started recording videos of her when she was five years old. Since then, I have come to Bangladesh almost every year to see her. Papiya is now a mother of two daughters. We have known each other for so many years. I see her life, and she sees mine. Bangladesh-Japan 2014/2026.