Chief Guests

Dr. Gayatri Mathur is an accomplished visual artist, curator, and cultural administrator with over two decades of experience across academic institutions, international cultural platforms, and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She currently serves as a Programme Officer at Lalit Kala Akademi, where she has led several landmark national and international art initiatives, including the Varanasi Public Sculpture Project, Project PARI, and India’s participation in the FIL Guadalajara Book Fair

Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, a Senior Advocate designated by the Supreme Court of India. In 2023, she was awarded the University of Virginia’s Jefferson Medal in Law, the University’s highest honour. She was the first non-American to receive this honour. In 2019, she was on Foreign Policy magazine’s list of 100 most influential Global Thinkers and TIME Magazine’s List of 100 Most Influential People of the Year.