Naomi Beckwith (Deputy Director & Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA and Artistic Director, Documenta 16, 2027), Tasneem Zakaria Mehta (Managing Trustee & Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India), Ferran Barenblit (Independent Curator, former Director, MACBA and CA2M, Spain), Azu Nwagbogu (Curator & Founder, African Artists’ Foundation and Director, LagosPhoto Festival, Nigeria), in a talk moderated by Kamini Sawhney (Board Member, CIMAM — International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art & Independent Curator, India), address how intergenerational support in museums fosters conscious cultural leadership, bolsters marginalised narratives beyond tokenistic representation, and provides a realistic perspective on the work that remains to be done.
Generously supported by JSW, the IAF 2025 Talks Series, Growing Focus, curated by independent researcher and curator Shaleen Wadhwana, examines the increasing prominence of South Asia within contemporary art, design and culture. The series highlights the efforts of People of the Global Majority — comprising more than 80 per cent of the world’s population, with roots in Indigenous, African, Asian and Latin American cultures — who are asserting their presence across arts and cultural ecosystems. Amid the ongoing decentering of dominant ‘Global North’ narratives, it frames this moment not merely as a response to decolonisation but as landmark, historic self-determination. We explore this impact for audiences today and every day.
Naomi Beckwith: Naomi Beckwith serves as Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and will lead Documenta 16 in 2027. Formerly with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and The Studio Museum in Harlem, she focuses on identity, conceptual art, and African diasporic artists. She holds an MA from the Courtauld Institute.
Tasneem Zakaria Mehta: Tasneem Zakaria Mehta is an art historian, curator, designer, and cultural activist. She serves as Managing Trustee and Honorary Director of Mumbai’s Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum and is a former Vice Chairman of INTACH. She is also Vice President of the International Council of MoMA, New York.
Ferran Barenblit: Ferran Barenblit (Buenos Aires, 1968) is a freelance curator based in Barcelona, Spain. He is the former director of CA2M in Madrid (2008-2015) and MACBA in Barcelona (2015-2021). His last projects include the 16th Cuenca Biennale, Ecuador (2023) and Fictions: narrativity in contemporary art, MAZ, Guadalajara, Mexico (2024).
Azu Nwagbogu: Azu Nwagbogu, an internationally acclaimed curator and thinker focusing on the arts and culture of the African region and its diaspora across global and local ecosystems, is developing new models for addressing decolonization, restitution, and repatriation. As Founder and Director of African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) and LagosPhoto Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, he transforms exhibitions into experimental sites for civic engagement and ecological discourse. Named “Curator of Year 2021” by the Royal Photographic Society and appointed National Geographic’s “Explorer at Large”, in 2024 Nwagbogu curated the inaugural Benin Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. Recently, he joined the KADIST Africa and Middle East Advising Committee.
Kamini Sawhney: Kamini Sawhney is the founding Director of Bengaluru’s Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) and the first Indian Board member of CIMAM. With over 15 years in museum leadership, she launched MAP as a digital-first museum in 2020. Previously, she headed the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation and was NDTV’s Mumbai Bureau Chief. Cop
