Festivals in the City of Angels: Flames of Devotion

The Fowler Museum at UCLA explores global arts and cultures with an emphasis on Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas—past and present. The Fowler enhances understanding and appreciation of the diverse peoples, cultures, and religions of the world through dynamic exhibitions, publications, and public programs, informed by interdisciplinary approaches and the perspectives of the cultures represented. Also featured is the work of international contemporary artists presented within the complex frameworks of politics, culture and social action. The Fowler provides exciting, informative and thought-provoking exhibitions and events for the UCLA community and the people of greater Los Angeles and beyond.

Fowler Museum at UCLA

Festivals in the City of Angels connects museum programs with communities across the city to honor local expressions of global religions

Copy and paste this link into your browser to join: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/97219637710In honor of Diwali, the “festival of lights” that celebrates the beginning of the Hindu New Year, scholar Lakshika Senarath Gamage will explore the origins of this holiday and its manifestations in contemporary faith communities. She will also offer her perspective on the design, construction, and use of the spectacular bronze oil lamps in the Fowler’s collection, acquired by the pre-eminent scholar of Indian art in LA. Such oil lamps would have been used in Diwali celebrations to symbolize the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.Lakshika Senarath Gamage received her Ph.D. in 2018 from the UCLA Department of Art History. Her research on Early Modern South Asian Art focuses on Hindu and Buddhist temple art and architecture in India and Sri Lanka. While at UCLA, her dissertation fieldwork in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala was supported by the Ralph C. Altman award bestowed by the Fowler Museum in 2014. She currently teaches Asian Art history at Santa Monica College and conducts research on South Asian Art at the Getty Research Institute.Presented in partnership with Indian Student Union at UCLA.This program is generously supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.Festivals in the City of Angels: This series connects the museum programs with communities across the city in order to better understand manifestations of lived religions in Los Angeles and honor local expressions of global faiths.

Festivals in the City of Angels: Flames of Devotion

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Festivals in the City of Angels: Flames of Devotion

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