{"id":4208,"date":"2025-07-21T22:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T22:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/?p=4208"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:19:13","slug":"the-art-of-preservation-in-conversation-with-museum-conservator-vasundhara-pradip-madhumita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/2025\/07\/21\/the-art-of-preservation-in-conversation-with-museum-conservator-vasundhara-pradip-madhumita\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Preservation: In Conversation with Museum Conservator Vasundhara Pradip Madhumita"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Friday, July 11, 2025, the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) hosted an enriching event titled \u201cThe Art of Preservation: In Conversation with Museum Conservator Vasundhara Pradip Madhum<\/em>ita\u201d<\/em> at the Sikh Heritage Museum, housed within the Gur Sikh Temple National Historic Site in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The event was part of the National Trust for Canada\u2019s Historic Places Days, a cross-country celebration of heritage spaces and the stories they hold.<\/p>\n

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This in-person session brought together students, museum professionals, and conservationists for an engaging presentation by Ms. Vasundhara Pradip Madhumita, a distinguished museum conservator with extensive experience across India and North America. A graduate of the Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management, Ms. Madhumita has worked on conservation projects at the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar and The City Palace Museum in Udaipur, and served as an Andrew Mellon Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York.<\/p>\n

Her talk offered a rare glimpse into the intricate, often invisible, labor behind the preservation of cultural artifacts and historic spaces. Through a visual presentation of her work, Ms. Madhumita demonstrated the delicate balance of science, artistry, and cultural sensitivity required in conservation practices. Audience members were captivated by close-up photographs that documented the painstaking restoration of heritage materials\u2014images that revealed not only the fragility of these artifacts but also the precision and dedication needed to safeguard them.<\/p>\n

Following her presentation, Ms. Madhumita engaged in an open Q&A session with attendees, sharing insights into the ethics of conservation, collaborative challenges in multi-interest-holder projects, and the evolving role of technology in heritage work. Her reflections encouraged a deeper appreciation of the meticulous care and cultural responsibility embedded in the field of conservation.<\/p>\n

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The setting of the event also held particular significance. As the oldest purpose-built still-standing gurdwara in the western hemisphere, the Gur Sikh Temple has served as a spiritual, cultural, and social anchor for over a century. It continues to be a meaningful reception space and a vital centre for community gatherings. Hosting Ms. Madhumita within the walls of the Sikh Heritage Museum highlighted the powerful intersection of place, history, and heritage care.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to view photos and videos of the event.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to view Vasundhara’s presentation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, July 11, 2025, the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) hosted an enriching event titled \u201cThe Art of Preservation: In Conversation with Museum Conservator Vasundhara Pradip Madhumita\u201d at the Sikh Heritage Museum, housed within the Gur Sikh Temple National Historic Site in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The event was part of the National Trust for … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":4212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4208"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4224,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions\/4224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/sasi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}