Sonipat - The Department of Visual Arts at Ashoka University is set to organize the first talk of its Visual Arts Colloquium Series (Spring 2026) on Monday, 9 February 2026. The colloquium, titled “Nature’s Duplicates: Inorganic doubles of organic ‘nature’ in public space in contemporary India”, will take place from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm at the Visual Arts Studio (near the sports block) on campus.
The session will be delivered by Kajri Jain, Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto. Her talk draws from ongoing research that examines the growing presence of inorganic replicas of nature—such as plastic grass, fibreglass animals, concrete birds, robotic elephants, and aluminium trees—in India’s public spaces.
Event Details:
Title: Nature’s Duplicates: Inorganic doubles of organic “nature” in public space in contemporary India
Speaker: Prof. Kajri Jain, University of Toronto
Date: 9 February 2026
Time: 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Venue: Visual Arts Studio (near sports block), Ashoka University
Event Type: Guest Lecture / Colloquium
Mode: On Campus
The event is open to students, faculty, and visitors, and informal discussions will continue over tea and coffee after the talk.
According to the abstract released by the department, the lecture will move beyond viewing these objects merely as symbols of developmental “greenwashing.” Instead, it will explore their layered histories and the ways in which they embody distinct cosmopolitics, aesthetic regimes, and moral-ethical values. The discussion will also reflect on how these representations challenge or reinforce dominant, post-Enlightenment ideas of nature that influence global environmentalism and environmental humanities scholarship.
Professor Jain’s research focuses on modern and contemporary South Asian visual cultures, with particular attention to postcolonial and decolonizing approaches to art history. Her work investigates the intersections of religion, media, and visual practice in India, as well as broader questions of how images shape cultural, ethical, and political meanings.
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