Meet the Team
Jaison Manjaly
Founder ART@IITGN Collective
Email: jmanjaly -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Jaison Manjaly is Jasubhai Memorial Chair Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at IIT Gandhinagar. His research interests include curiosity, education, and exclusion. He is the Principal Investigator of the Curiosity Lab at IIT Gandhinagar, which aims to develop interventions to foster curiosity in the classroom.
At IIT Gandhinagar, he pioneered the establishment of the Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences. He is the former Dean of Student Affairs at IIT Gandhinagar. He is currently the Coordinator of Alumni Relations and Head of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Gandhinagar.
Art@IITGN was conceptualised by him to create a space for the IITGN Community to practice, participate and experiment with creative art forms.
Avani Varia
Art Curator
Email: avani.v -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Avani Varia is an artist & heritage professional with over two decades of experience in the Art, Craft, Design, Education and Tourism sectors. She has received Master's in Arts and Heritage Management from London and is formally educated in various aspects of design, teaching and management. She hails from the traditional potter’s family of the Varia community of Gujarat in India, is equipped with various traditional and contemporary textile and non-textile techniques.
Her contribution to promoting Indian Arts is noteworthy. Be it the revival of hand-spinning with traditional tools, contribution to building museum culture in Gujarat, documenting Indian Heritage via films through her initiative ‘The Heritage Film Festival’ are few to name. Her works are part of various International publications and in the year 2022 she received recognition as one of the 50 Inspiring Women of Gujarat.
Her association with IIT Gandhinagar started in 2012 as a consultant for the Foundation Program. As an ART CURATOR she manages and hosts interdisciplinary art activities at IIT Gandhinagar while shaping ART@IITGN to become the central place for creative explorations on campus along with possibilities for International and National collaborations. Her vision is to create opportunities and welcome unseen overlaps between multiple disciplines with all the community members.
Argha Manna
Artist-in-Residence
Email: argha.manna -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Mr. Argha Manna has joined the Institute as an Artist-in-Residence in the discipline of Humanities and Social Science. He did his B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Calcutta.
Mr. Argha Manna is a cancer biologist turned comics artist. He explores the historical perspectives of scientific development and social issues through the lenses of an artist and researcher both. Argha is chiefly interested in making bridges between academic research and visual storytelling. He runs an online platform named Drawing History of Science where he blends his passion for science, history, and comics. Alongside working as, a practicing comics artist Argha teaches science comics and visual storytelling at different institutes as a visiting faculty. He is a visiting artist 2022-23 at the Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Cynthia Brophy
Artist-in-Residence
Email: cynthia.brophy -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Ms. Cynthia Campoy Brophy has joined the Institute as an Artist-in-Residence in the discipline of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Ms. Cynthia Campoy Brophy did her BA (English Literature) from the University of California, Los Angeles, her Diploma in French Literature from the University of Paris, Executive Programme in Nonprofit Arts Administration from Stanford Graduate School, and Professional Education Program from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She also received core mediation training, satisfying the California Dispute Resolutions Program Act from Loyola Law School, Center for Conflict Resolution.
She is the Co-Founder of Create Protest, an online marketplace of artist-designed merchandise created to motivate action and inspire the community. She is also the Mediator/Consultant at CCB Consulting.
Her research interests include: Fields of education, Workforce development, Creative industry, Youth empowerment, and The arts to create sustainable pathways to provide young people with more creative options.
Transmission Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Srinivas Reddy
Visiting Professor and Art Collaborator
Email: srinivas -AT- iitgn.ac.in
In 2011 Srinivas graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhD in South and Southeast Asian Studies. Under the guidance of Professor George Hart he studied Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu literary traditions and completed his thesis on the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya and his Telugu epic Amuktamalyada.
Srinivas has published numerous scholarly articles and four books: Giver of the Worn Garland (Penguin 2010), The Dancer and the King (Penguin 2014), The Cloud Message (2017) and RAYA (Juggernaut 2020). His current book project is an Anthology of Classical India Literature with Bloomsbury Publishing.
Srinivas is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Contemplative Studies at Brown University and Guest Professor at IIT Gandhinagar.
Brian Brophy
Scholar-in-Residence and Art Collaborator
Email: brophy@iitgn.ac.in
A 25-year veteran actor in the film/TV/theater industry, Brian joined Caltech as TACIT's director in 2008. He also serves as the Artistic Director of MACH 33: The Festival of New Science-Driven Plays.
He has directed over fifty plays around the world and is a thirty-year veteran actor in the film/TV/theater industry. His roles in A Day Without a Mexican, Cradle Will Rock, The Shawshank Redemption, The Player, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Measure of a Man" remain his favorites.
Brian is Fulbright scholar, Scholar in Residence at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGn), and a Yale-NUS Singapore Artist in Residence. He is a multi-recipient of the California Arts Council's Artists in Communities grant, and recipient of a George Soros Foundation funding award for a theater project in Bosnia.
Sameer Sahasrabudhe
Professor of Practice and Art Collaborator
Email: sameerss -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Sameer Sahasrabudhe is a Professor of Practice in Design, at IIT Gandhinagar. He has a cumulative experience of over 25 years in various fields such as advertising, animation film-making, and educational multimedia production.
He has contributed in the development of the Learner – Centric Model and has created many MOOCs for IITBombayX, edX, and SWAYAM. His course on 3D visualization and animation is subscribed by over One lakh learners worldwide and was shortlisted for the edX prize 2019. Sameer holds a PhD in Subject Communication; PG Diplomas in Distance Education and Animation Film-making; and a Graduation in Fine Arts.
Kanmani
Intern
Email: kanmani.m -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Kanmani is an Environmental researcher by profession, and also a dancer and a theater practitioner from a very young age. He is a trained karagattam dancer which is a Tamilnadu folk dance form. He has been exploring different painting styles for the past few years and recently learning to incorporate natural pigments for visual art.
As a part of the internship program at Art@IITGn, he has committed 18 hrs a week for three months and will be a part of administrative works and extra help for events. He coordinates “Movements” which is a regular activity and apart from internship assignments he is facilitated by the art curator to pursue and practice his passion for textile art.
Ishani Kumar
Intern
Email: ishani.kumar -AT- iitgn.ac.in
Ishani Kumar is a first year Engineering student, who is very passionate about sketching. She’s been practicing sketching through pen and pencil, sketching since the past 6 years. Being an animal lover she has also tried 3D modeling and designing. Currently she is venturing into the less explored areas of colour ball pen sketching. Among other art forms, she has formal training in Kathak and Indian Classical Music, with Harmonium.
As a part of the internship program at Art@IITGn, he has committed 18 hrs a week for event coordination and administrative work. Apart from this Ishani will be working with the team for concept preparation and exhibition display.
