With the intention of doing so, he began guiding heritage walks around the city and even convinced the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to open a chapter in Bhavnagar, of which he now heads. Are. Using funds from INTACH, she is working on creating a museum focused on the crafts of Saurashtra, within a larger museum dedicated to Gandhi mementos. Then there is the NGO he founded in 2020, Bhavnagar Heritage. It works with around 25 female artisans to create a range of clothing, cushion covers, jewellery, purses, bags and shoes using hereditary crafts such as embroidery, beadwork, crochet and macrame. And she is working on her PhD, which looks at how colonization changed the way Gujarat’s royalty dressed. “For example, photographs of women in my family show them wrapped in tissue fabric, which is not from this region. I’m interested to know where it came from and how it was introduced to this area.” Brijeshwari also works as vice president of Mumbai-based auction house and gallery Princeps, researching the art and antiques the company acquires for sale. (She brings experience to the role; after her Nottingham degree, she interned in the art conservation department at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Museum in Mumbai, and spent five years at the Piramal Foundation in everything from restoration to curation to setting up shows.) As part of his job, he has documented the work of Rathindranath Tagore, Gobardhan Ashe and Somnath Hore.
“Many of these artistes have not been given their due. There is not enough information about them. So the thing that excites me most is when I find something that uncovers a piece of the puzzle. It’s like being a spy,” She says in a tone that suggests the bleak joy of many eureka moments. “Like in the three years I was documenting, I watched a lot of Zeenat Aman’s films [Academy Award–winning costume designer] Bhanu Athaiya’s property—it was crazy! But when you read his notes on a sketch and saw it on film, everything made sense.
