Deepali Dewan

Deepali Dewan is the Dan Mishra Senior Curator of Global South Asia at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and an Associate Professor (status-only) in the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto. She co-edits the open-access journal Trans Asian Photography and is affiliated with the Centre for South Asian Studies and Massey College.

• B.A. (Honours) in Art History, McGill University (1993)
• M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History, University of Minnesota (1995, 2001)

Her research focuses on South Asian visual culture (19th–21st centuries), with expertise in the history and theory of photography, colonialism/modernity, 19th-century decorative arts, and contemporary diasporic art. She explores how photography shapes contemporary perceptions of the world, particularly through family photography as a cultural practice linked to migration.

She has authored and co-edited major publications, including Raja Deen Dayal: Artist-Photographer in 19th-Century India (2013), Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs (2012), and Bollywood Cinema Showcards (2011), all accompanied by exhibitions. Her current work on vernacular photography intersects with global human movement during the long 20th century.

Scientific awards include fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, American Institute of Indian Studies, College Art Association, MacArthur Program/University of Minnesota, Alkazi Foundation, and SSHRC funding for the collaborative project The Family Camera Network.