Maybach Foundation Interview Series Episode 3: Insights from Anubhav Nath, India

Meet Anub­hav Nath, the direc­tor of Ojas Art and co-founder of the Ram­chan­der Nath Foun­da­tion. Anub­hav’s jour­ney in the arts began with his edu­ca­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, fol­lowed by a course in Mar­ket­ing of the Visu­al Arts at the Sotheby’s Insti­tute of Art in Lon­don. His foun­da­tion is ded­i­cat­ed to restor­ing and pro­mot­ing the arts while pro­vid­ing unique plat­forms for artists. Anub­hav is also known for his insight­ful cov­er­age of con­tem­po­rary Indi­an art and his inno­v­a­tive cura­to­r­i­al projects work­ing with mar­gin­alised soci­eties, prison inmates, pub­lic art projects and the indige­nous arts.

Here’s the Inter­view between the May­bach Foun­da­tion (MF) and Anub­hav Nath (AN):

MF: How has your part­ner­ship with the May­bach Foun­da­tion influ­enced your work and vision for Ojas Art and the Ram­chan­der Nath Foundation?

AN: My part­ner­ship with MF has shaped my work in a big way. In 2007, MF host­ed the Pho­tog­ra­phy men­tor­ship project at World Trade Cen­ter, New York. RNF’s nom­i­nee Vicky Roy, a reha­bil­i­tat­ed street child was among the four pro­tegees to be final­ly select­ed. Six months in New York were life-chang­ing for Vicky and the oppor­tu­ni­ties he got there­after were life changing.

I had also just start­ed out in the arts, for me, it was a big learn­ing as it gave me immense faith in the pow­er of men­tor­ship and also reaf­firmed by belief in the social pow­er of the arts. A lot of my future project choic­es were made based on this learning.

MF: „Expres­sions of Tihar“ is a unique and impact­ful project. What led you to curate an exhi­bi­tion based on the expe­ri­ences of artists vis­it­ing Tihar Jail?

AN: One of my first projects, this was a three year long engage­ment with prison inmates. On ret­ro­spect, I did a major out­sider art project with­out real­ly know­ing the term back then!

RNF was approached to do some wel­fare work in the pris­ons and we start­ed this project as a sim­ple art ther­a­py project. As the word got around, there was a snow­ball-effect, in a good way and we were approached by main­stream artists who want­ed to inter­act and pos­si­bly men­tor the prison inmates. the panop­ti­con experience.

The project cul­mi­nat­ed in a joint show between inmate artists and con­tem­po­rary artists and became the high­est fundrais­er for the Tihar Jail Wel­fare Fund ever. Also, on com­plet­ing their term three inmates became full-time artists in their home­towns paint­ing bill­boards and signages.

MF: Men­tor­ship is a core aspect of the May­bach Foun­da­tion. Can you talk about the men­tors who have influ­enced your career and how they have shaped your approach to the arts?

AN: I have immense faith in the pow­er of men­tor­ship. In col­lege I signed up for a men­tor­ship pro­gram and after all these years con­tin­ue to be in touch with my men­tor! At var­i­ous points in my career I have had some very accom­plished peo­ple guid­ing and hand-holding.

A men­tor who has been a con­stant in my art jour­ney is San­joy Roy of Team­work Arts. He is the pro­duc­er of mul­ti­ple art and cul­ture fes­ti­vals includ­ing the Jaipur Lit­er­a­ture Fes­ti­val (JLF), the largest lit­er­a­ture fes­ti­val in the world. JLF is host­ed in eight cities across three con­ti­nents and has an out­reach to millions.

I was a cura­to­r­i­al fel­low Muse­um of Fine Arts, Hous­ton, where my men­tor-cura­tor Chris­tine Stark­man real­ly helped me nav­i­gate and under­stand the Amer­i­can muse­um sys­tem, which I knew very lit­tle off.

MF: How do you incor­po­rate men­tor­ship into your work with artists at Ojas Art and the Ram­chan­der Nath Foundation?

AN: RNF con­tin­ues to work silent­ly with mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties –Baalak Trust (SBT) in Del­hi, where Vicky Roy grew up focus­es on run­away and work­ing chil­dren. We have a foothold there and are work­ing with children.

Through Ojas Art, we have been work­ing with under-rep­re­sent­ed Indi­an indige­nous artists and men­tor them to help progress their work and careers. We have been able to get them bet­ter oppor­tu­ni­ties, exhi­bi­tions and even place­ments of their works in major Amer­i­can muse­ums like the Art Insti­tute of Chica­go and the Philadel­phia Muse­um of Arts.

MF: Your back­ground includes edu­ca­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Cal­i­for­nia and the Sotheby’s Insti­tute of Art. How have these expe­ri­ences influ­enced your career in the arts?

AN: I start­ed work­ing in 2004, and the fol­low­ing decade has been cru­cial in India’s devel­op­ment and progress. Undoubt­ed­ly, my BBA at USC helped pre­pare me to be a part of this progress. The Sotheby’s Insti­tute of Art equipped me with direct knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in man­ag­ing and mar­ket­ing of the visu­al arts, my cho­sen cat­e­go­ry of work.

MF: Vin­tage auto­mo­biles are one of your pas­sions. How do you bal­ance this inter­est with your work in the art world?

AN: Vin­tage motor cars was my grandfather’s pas­sion — I am direct­ly respon­si­ble for the upkeep of the col­lec­tion. For me, per­son­al­ly, the lega­cy is not just about the cars but also about him – the per­son his beliefs and val­ues. It is impor­tant for me to pre­serve and extend the same. RNF is estab­lished in his name and has helped in stream­lin­ing the process immensely.

MF: Can you dis­cuss a project or ini­tia­tive you’ve led that aligns with the May­bach Foundation’s mis­sion of inspir­ing and men­tor­ing the next generation?

AN: To reach out to and recog­nise excel­lence in art by indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties we have the annu­al Ojas Art Award. The award recog­nis­es and mas­ter artist and pro­tégé artist from the same genre. Through the year we work close­ly with both with a spe­cial focus on the pro­tégé artists as they require more hand-hold­ing but at the same time have great poten­tial to be change­mak­ers and sub­se­quent­ly influ­encers for their respec­tive communities.

Over the years we have had a num­ber of pro­tégé artists and I would like to men­tion Mayur & Tushar Vaye­da who come from the War­li Tribe in west­ern India. The Vayedas were as pro­tégé awardees and ever since there has been no look­ing back for them. They have been invit­ed to pres­ti­gious inter­na­tion­al art events in Europe and Japan, book projects, insti­tu­tion­al shows, etc.

Anoth­er artist, Rosh­ni Vyam from the Gond tribe was recog­nised in 2015 and she too has made a mark on the inter­na­tion­al stage. It was a mat­ter of great pride, when I recent­ly attend­ed an open­ing for a year-long exhi­bi­tion at the Spore Ini­tia­tive in Berlin, with their art­works in focus.

MF: How do you see the role of art in social change, espe­cial­ly in the con­text of your work with Tihar Jail and dis­ad­van­taged children?

AN: Art has a big­ger social good is a firm belief. The arts have the pow­er to help heal, nur­ture and grow. I have seen art bring about an unpar­al­leled change in com­mu­ni­ties by pro­vid­ing an eco­nom­ic inde­pen­dence and sus­tain­abil­i­ty to the most mar­gin­alised. Also the self respect it pro­vides is unpar­al­leled, close­ly observed in the case of Tihar Jail inmates and grad­u­ates from SBT.

MF: What advice would you give to young pro­fes­sion­als look­ing to make a dif­fer­ence in the arts and phil­an­thropy sectors?

AN: Art and phil­an­thropy are soft sub­jects with unpar­al­leled poten­tial but long ges­ta­tion peri­ods. It takes a while before change becomes appar­ent. First thing, one needs to incul­cate great patience. Sec­ond­ly, a long-term vision is essen­tial. More-often-than-not it is an uphill slip­pery slope – let your heart over­rule your brain. And yes, lots of deep breathing!

MF: Look­ing ahead, what are your aspi­ra­tions for your con­tin­ued col­lab­o­ra­tion with the May­bach Foun­da­tion and the future projects you envi­sion together?

AN: As I said at the onset of this inter­view, May­bach Foundation’s WTC project hap­pened very ear­ly on in my career and made me a firm believ­er of men­tor­ship. A lot of my future projects and work choic­es are reflec­tive of this strong belief.

I am con­stant­ly shar­ing ideas with friends at May­bach Foun­da­tion. It has been a while since we worked on some­thing togeth­er. We dis­cussed some ideas on my recent vis­it to the May­bach Cen­ter in Friedrichshafen.

Our work togeth­er in the future will con­tin­ue to har­ness the unsaid pow­er of the arts. The focus will be on ele­ments that help com­mu­ni­ties rec­og­nize mutu­al pos­i­tiv­i­ty and aid in mak­ing the world less divisive.