Dr Alka Pande is an art historian who taught Art History at Panjab University for more than two decades. She has also taught Art and Aesthetics at the Delhi College of Art, NID and the DJ Academy of Design, Coimbatore. Her major fields of interest are gender identity and sexuality, and traditional arts. Dr Pande, under the aegis of the Charles Wallace India Trust, conducted postdoctoral research in critical art theory at Goldsmiths, University of London.
She has received various honourable awards for her contribution to fields of art and literature such as the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters- by the French government (2006), the Australian-India Council Special Award (2009), L’Oreal Paris Femina Women and Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi honours- with Amrita Sher-Gil Samman (2015), the Culture Champion and the Women of the Year (2023) by She Inspires Awards and the CIMA Lifetime Achievement Award (2023) and the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government (2025).
She has been passionately involved with the world of art for more than three decades. She has been responsible for curating several significant and perceptive exhibitions in India and abroad.
She has extensively written and edited books on Indian aesthetics, culture and photography. Dr Pande has published a set of 14 books on Indian culture, especially focused on Indian arts and aesthetics, called the 108 Portraits series (2024). Dr Pande is responsible for setting up museums: Divine Gesture, Udaipur City Palace, Kanha Museum, Singinawa and Ganga Gallery at Patna Museum. She is on the advisory of the Bihar Museum. Dr Pande was the chief curator at the Bihar Museum Biennale in 2021 and 2023.
Langdale Estate Nainital, India, 263001.
nainitalliteraturefestival@gmail.com
