MA'17 Reports on her Maharam Fellowship

Mudita Pasari MA'17 recently shared with us a brief report of her work this summer on a project carried over a 10-week period in India and sponsored by the award of a Maharam Fellowship.

"I was working in a North-Eastern Indian city, which is experiencing rapid development and population growth. The strain on the local environment is increasingly becoming visible. This city is home to many species of animals, some of which are endangered or almost extinct in the wild. Through this project, I documented many such species and created an accordion book called "Biodiversity 360" which cuts a rough cross section to the city and urges people to walk around and observe the urban biodiversity. The project aims towards creating a balance, by sharing information which would be useful for residents to created a more friendly/ less hazardous environment for these species. All these were put together with a narrative and illustrations of each species and their surrounding.

Though initially the project begun as a book to be shared in local schools, the [city's] Tourism Department has been interested in sponsoring the production of a large number of copies. I am really grateful that I got a chance to do the Maharam, as this has opened new avenues for me and people are showing interest in sharing information through interactive book forms".