Jagattarini: Resident Artist and Miniaturist
Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Jagattarini moved to Sydney at 21 to pursue theatre and art. This small step away from home was the beginning of a journey that carried her around the world and eventually to India.
She settled in Vrindavan (the land of Krishna), a sacred town two hours south of New Delhi, where she stayed for twelve years. She became fascinated by the people, their traditions, food, and art, and it wasn’t long before she was exploring this sacred and ancient land.
In the 1980s it was difficult for a modern Western woman to gain entrance into Vrindavan’s culture, but Jagattarini worked hard to win the trust of the people, and gradually, she was allowed an intimate glimpse into their lives and spiritual traditions, which included their time-honoured stories of Krishna.
Over time, she began to take visitors to Vrindavan on tours of the places she had explored, sharing with them what she had learned. She also travelled to other spiritual locations around India, sometimes alone and sometimes leading tours, but always with an eye to learning all she could about local traditions.
In 1996 Jagattarini and her family moved back to Australia. To her, Vrindavan had become home, and now she deeply missed everything about it.
Then a dying friend sent her a tiny, one-inch figure of Krishna, a gift that inspired her to take up her art again, this time by creating 1/72 scale miniature dioramas with the stories from Vrindavan as her themes. This quickly became the most creative period of her life.
Winning several prizes in Perth Miniature Competitions, Jagattarini then was invited to display her work in London. For this project, she specially created 12 large exhibits. They were very well received, and this inspired her with the desire to create a beautiful gallery for the miniatures here in Perth – thus began a dynamic artistic adventure culminating in The Sacred India Gallery.
"A wonderful and uniquely talented team of artists, sculptors, and designers from different parts of the world worked together to create this masterpiece. The gallery evolved spontaneously. It was as if it had a life of its own. As inspiration appeared, immediately the energy and artists were there. So much hard work went into this space, so much meticulous dedication to detail, so much generosity of heart! Together, we watched my dream come to life!"
Bhurijana Dasa: Project Head
Bhurijana is from New York. He provided the overall strategies used to create the gallery experience. His patience and his energy, forceful at times, pushed the team forward and kept them focused on the vision. His valuable insights continue to inspire those involved to strive for dynamic new horizons.
Shree Radha Raman: Gallery Manager and Tour Co-ordinator
Shree, originally from New Zealand, has been involved with the gallery from the beginning. While it was being built, he worked tirelessly, rolling up his sleeves, painting the walls and other tasks while always making sure that the artists were happy and the work never stopped. Currently, he manages the gallery and guides tours for our guests.
Supporting Artists and Volunteers
Baladeva Das ( Philippines) made the most incredible contribution with his extraordinary sculpting and painting abilities, especially in recreating ancient Indian architecture.
Tania Visser (South Africa) once had her own interior design company. She offered her talents to create the special effects that support the gallery artwork.
Rasa Nandini (Melbourne) provided fine paintings in traditional Rajasthani style
Hemy Bar-or (Israel) ornately decorated two beautiful Indian-style doors.
Tri Yuga (New Zealand) helped create a life-sized tree with thousands of leaves.
Sandhya Tiwari and Vishwa ma (India) cut and glued those leaves onto branches to foliate the iconic tree.
Gopi Priya (China) spent hours painting miniatures.
Guna Mani (Mauritius) painted the decorative borders on the display cases.
Vraja Kishore (Philippines) tirelessly painted walls, then carefully stenciled them.
Sarva Bhauma (Slovenia) our electronics genie, created many special effects.
Yaron (Israel) spent hundreds of hours designing the graphics.
Kaisori (USA) took care of all the editing
Yashas MIttal (India) Helped with much needed design and consulting
Robert Mitchell (Perth) began, and then Pratik Rathod (India) with his team (Babulal, Munaram, and Yogesh) did all the gallery’s carpentry.
"It took nearly 11 years of hard work to complete the gallery. Alongside these talented artists listed above, many other volunteers came forward to offer assistance. We are greatly indebted to them all."
Jagattarini