Rattanamol Singh Johal grew up in northern India in Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. His inspiration for a career in the arts started at a very young age.
"I have enjoyed living and learning in some of the world's most creative and artistic cities, but it is clear that it all started in Chandigarh for me," said Johal.
"It is such a unique place that consciously and subconsciously introduced me to modernism. It tells the story of the Partition and a larger twentieth-century history of decolonization and postcolonial aspirations through its architecture, its grid, and its people."
Johal decided to head to the US for his undergraduate degree at at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York (CUNY) to major in economics, but New York showed him how his time in Chandigarh had inspired a love of art.
"I had to take an art history class as a requirement in college," added Johal. "One class, and I knew I had to continue. There was an immediate connection."
After finishing that degree, with majors in art history and political science, Johal continued his education at the Courtauld Institute in London. He earned a PhD in art history from Columbia University and has held fellowships at the Whitney Independent Study Program and Tate Research Centre: Asia. Previously, he was a curator, archivist, and publications editor at the Khoj International Artists’ Association in New Delhi.
Before joining the University of Michigan in August 2024, he was assistant director of the International Program at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where he worked on the global research initiative, C-MAP, the online research platform, post, and the Primary Documents publication series. He also co-chaired the Museum’s Contemporary Working Group, members of which organize displays of collection works from the 1980s to the present.
"I have been hugely fortunate to study and work in New York, New Delhi, London, Paris and Venice. I’ve learned a great deal from my time in museums and working with artists, and will continue to do so, but at this point in my career, I felt the need to prioritize the development of my research and teaching," continued Johal.
This desire led him to apply for the newly created Shireen and Afzal Ahmad Professorship in South Asian Arts at U-M, one of the only endowed professorships in the US focused specifically on South Asia's modern and contemporary art.
"I'm currently teaching a freshman seminar," said Johal. "It's called “From ‘post-colonial’ to ‘post-modern’: South Asian Art in the wake of Independence and Partition.' It's both a survey and a deep dive into 20th-century South Asian art, architecture and photography. We cover questions of society, politics, heritage and modernity.
"Many of my students don't have any background in art history or specific knowledge of South Asian history. There is just a genuine interest and curiosity. We use art history as a lens to understand what is happening in this region during this period.
"It's primarily a discussion space. There are no lectures or slide exams. We begin by looking at works of art and unpacking them together, and only then analyze the existing scholarship. I have found this to be an effective way to reduce barriers, and learn with and from students.”
