Sun. 26 July: Mohenjodaro and the Indus Valley Civilisation — Looking to the past to look to the future

Sudeshna Guha researches on the histories of archaeology, museums, collecting practices and heritage making. Her first monograph, Artefacts of History: Archaeology, Historiography and Indian Pasts (Sage 2015) explores the historiography of the archaeological scholarship of the Indus Civilization; now republished with an added preface on this subject by Primus (2026). Her book A History of India Through 75 Objects (Hachette 2022) provides a glimpse of her long study into issues of materiality and visualisation, as do the recent exhibitions she has curated for DAG (New Delhi, in 2024 and 2026) on the early photography of India’s monuments and people. She is a professor at the Department of History and Archaeology, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Delhi-NCR, India. 

Artist, activist and educator Sehba Sarwar will present her poem ‘Mohenjodaro Girl’. Sehba’s work tackles displacement, migration, and women’s issues. A second edition of her novel, Black Wings, was published by Veliz Books (2019), while her essays, short stories, and poems have appeared in New York Times, Callaloo, LA Times, Dawn, Altadena Poetry Review and elsewhere. Born and raised in an activist home in Karachi, Pakistan, she is the recipient of artist awards through Academy of American Poets, LA’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Mid-America Arts Alliance amidst others. While residing in Houston for more than 20 years, she served as Founder/Artistic Director of a social justice arts organization, Voices Breaking Boundaries for 18 years. Through the organization, she led projects such as Borderlines, an NEA-funded project that explored parallel border issues in Southasia and North America. Currently residing in Los Angeles County, she served as Altadena Co-Poet Laureate (2024-26). Her papers are archived at the University of Houston.