Public Lecture: Sarita Sundar

March 2, 2023
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

When: Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 5:00pm

Where: Steinberg Auditorium


Sarita Sundar is the founder of Hanno, a heritage interpretation and design consultancy. Her practice and research spans heritage studies, popular and visual culture, and design theory. At Hanno, she combines 30+ years of working with brand strategy and design solutions with her academic training in museum studies. She engages in critical inquiries into how culture engages with the visual, ranging from research into Indian vernacular typography (‘Indians don’t like White Space,’ 2016) to studies of intangible culture in performance practices (The Goddess and her Lieutenant: objects systems at a village festival, 2016). 

As part of a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship (August 2022 to May 2023), Sundar co-taught a course called Visualizing India at the history department of the University of Vermont along with her host faculty, Abigail McGowan. Her project as part of the fellowship examines the intersectional design histories between the US and India.  

Sundar holds an M.Des. in visual communications from the National Institute of Design, NID and a master’s in museum studies from the University of Leicester (2016). She was founding partner at an award-winning multi-disciplinary design company, Trapeze, for a decade before moving her focus to her research interests at Hanno. 

Sundar is visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Srishti Manipal School of Design and Technology, and Indian Institute of Craft Development. 


This event is in part sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity’s Small Grants program.