French Institute in India is pleased to announce Awdhesh Tamrakar as the recipient of the PRAF Artist in Residence (PAIR Award) 2025, who will undertake a three-month residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris this summer, with the support of the Institut Français.
Launched in 2019, the PAIR Award aims to support mid-career Indian artists and foster meaningful international exchange through long-term collaborations with cultural institutions. The residency offers artists a unique opportunity to develop their practice in dialogue with new contexts, audiences, and artistic communities.
For his residency in Paris, Awdhesh Tamrakar will develop his project titled “Bijou”, which explores the migration and reinterpretation of Indian brass and copper utensils—everyday objects that have undergone shifts in meaning as they move across cultural and geographical boundaries. Often reduced to their functional or decorative value, these utensils carry overlooked histories of craftsmanship, labor, and cultural memory.
Tamrakar’s research will focus on how these objects have been presented in French museum collections, such as at the Musée Guimet, Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, whether as ethnographic artifacts, decorative pieces, or remnants of colonial trade. His project will critically examine the role of Indo-French exchanges in shaping their interpretation.
In parallel, he will engage with contemporary material practices in Paris by visiting metalworking workshops, shops, and meeting with curators, artisans, and fellow artists. The residency will serve as a space for both research and material reflection, leading to drawings, photographic studies or material experiments.
With Bijou, Awdhesh Tamrakar aims to highlight the invisible hands behind these objects and reflect on how craft traditions are remembered, or erased, in global narratives of culture and heritage.
Awdhesh Tamrakar has been nominated by a jury comprising Atul Bhalla (Artist), Radha Mahendru (Kiran Nadar Museum of Art), Veerangana Kumari Solanki (Independent Curator and Writer), Mario D’Souza (Kochi Biennale Foundation / HH Art Spaces, Goa), and Nandita Jaishankar (Serendipity Arts Festival).