LAMO
Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir- 2010 :
The LAMO, Ladakh Arts and Media Centre, was started by Monisha Ahmed and Ravina Aggarwal in 1996. It is located in the historical old town of Leh, comprising two houses – the Munshi House, home to the King’s secretary, and the Gyaoo House, home to court artists. The two homes were restored by LAMO and revitalized as an art space with exhibition galleries, offices, library, sound studio and open-air performance site. The Centre conducts outreach programs, research and documentation projects, workshops, art residencies, performances and exhibitions that showcase Ladakh’s material and visual culture, performing arts and literature.
LAMO aims to revitalize living art forms, which are a rich resource of potential livelihood and knowledge about the history and life of the people who created them. Its work is founded on the principle that culture is not merely rooted in tradition but is also open to change and innovation.
LAMO held the first exhibition of Ladakhi contemporary art in 2014 ‘Among these mountains – Nine contemporary artists from Ladakh’. Since then we have held many exhibitions with Ladakhi artists at LAMO and in Delhi. Some of the Program Managers and Directors have been Phunchok Stobdan, Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, and Skalzang Youdon.
With the residency program, Baptist Coelho from Mumbai did a residency in 2015, and presented his work in an exhibition at LAMO (and the work has subsequently been shown elsewhere as well.) Among the many artists who have done residencies at LAMO are: Tomoyo Ihaya, Payal Arya, Niharika Rajput, Bryan Mulvihill, and Pronoy Das. Last autumn, Rigzin Tsewang, a furniture designer, was awarded the residency.
LAMO is continuing to engage with the local community, and create a platform for the artists from Leh/ Ladakh.
Text Courtesy : Space118
Image Courtesy : LAMO and World Wide Web