Shekhawati Culture Conservancy

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Shekhawati

Preserve | Activate | Reimagine

Culture Conservancy

Shekhawati is not a frozen museum.
It is a living archive –
whispering, fading, waiting to be reimagined.

Our Vision

Heritage as Imagination

For two years, we’ve walked through Shekhawati’s sunlit courtyards, traced fading frescoes, and listened to the echoes of its stories.

Through storytelling, research, and restoration, we bridge communities, scholars, and travellers with the living art painted on its walls.

Our mission is clear and urgent — to protect Shekhawati’s skyline and empower its artisans with dignity and sustainable livelihoods.

By blending traditional craftsmanship with modern design sensibilities, we aim to ensure that Shekhawati’s legacy is not merely preserved, but revived, experienced, and celebrated for generations to come.

This initiative will present a two-volume scholarly work, an interpretive exhibition, and a digital archive, transforming fragile memories into enduring resources for scholarship, heritage policy, and public learning.

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Our Work

Not Just Preservation

We do not mourn what is lost. We dissect what remains.
This work is the result of over two years of field research, archival documentation, and  community engagement across Rajasthan’s Shekhawati region.

We bring together cultural history, oral narratives, architectural heritage, and disappearing traditions to present a multidisciplinary portrait of a fading legacy. Our projects span books, exhibitions, community engagement, and collaborations.

Document — Record frescoes, havelis, and oral histories before they fade.
Conserve — Restore priority sites and empower local artisans with skill training.
Share — Publish, exhibit, and create open learning resources for all.

Not just admiration → Accountability.
Not just preservation → Participation.

From Preservation

to activation

Why Shekhawati,
Why Now ?

A Desert of Frescoes

Shekhawati is often called Rajasthan’s open-air museum.

Once, walls screamed in lime, indigo, and gold.
Now they peel into silence.
Yet every ruin holds resistance.
Every haveli whispers unfinished testimonies. Do we conserve memory, or activate it?

Who owns these walls – the families that left, the artisans who built them, or the artists who reimagine them?

Team Shekhawati

Rachita Choudhary

Founder | Heritage Conservator | Writer | Folk Art Advocate

Rachita’s ancestral ties to Shekhawati fuel her mission to safeguard its skyline and stories. With a degree in Interior Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, she brings design training, a global perspective, and a personal connection to the region. Her career spans visual  merchandising, food styling, finance management, and active leadership in her family’s textile export business. As both daughter of a mercantile family and daughter-in-law of Shekhawati, she offers an insider’s perspective — blending scholarship with lived memory

Ami Gupta

Photographer & Visual Storyteller

Ami’s lens breathes life into fading frescoes and courtyards. With extensive experience in documentary photography, she has worked on South Indian temple projects, including the
Kancheepuram Temple restoration with the HCL Shiv Nadar Foundation. Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in diplomatic spaces. Ami’s dedication and resilience made the fieldwork in Shekhawati possible — her photographs form the heart of the Conservancy’s visual archive.

AKM Photography

Drone Documentation

Specializing in aerial documentation, AKM captures Shekhawati’s scale and grandeur from above. Their drone work reveals patterns, skylines, and fragile architectures otherwise hidden from view, offering a unique perspective on both decay and resilience. 

Pragati – Sketch Stories

Illustrator

Pragati brings Shekhawati’s essence alive through illustration. With hand-drawn sketches and narrative visuals, she interprets frescoes, architecture, and stories in a contemporary medium 
— bridging fieldwork with art.

Abid Khan

Guide & Cultural Interpreter

Abid’s passion for restoration and heritage is unconditional. As the team’s ethnographic guide, he provides invaluable knowledge of the region’s history, migrations, and ever-changing landscape. His grounding in the “lay of the land” ensures that research remains true to local voices and lived realities.

Prachi Shah

Research Collaborator – Art & Archaeology

Prachi is a specialist in Jain Art & Archaeology with a background in Interior Architecture and Landscape Design. A versatile historian and artist, her mediums range from copper and wood to canvas installations. Her work has been showcased internationally at the World Trade Centre (Dubai) and Art Basel (Switzerland, 2018). With over a decade of research, she enriches the Conservancy with deep scholarship and creative interpretation.

Tejal Mohan

Editorial Advisor

With nearly three decades as a senior educator in Chennai, Tejal brings expertise in curriculum design, storytelling, and script writing. She has edited books across subjects and coached dramatics for Trinity College of London exams. Currently, she trains teachers through the CEECT program and volunteers each summer teaching Tibetan refugees in the Himalayas. Her editorial guidance ensures the Conservancy’s work maintains clarity, precision, and narrative flow.

Durga Singh ji Mandawa

Descendant of Devi Singhji & Rao Shekhaji, Founder of Shekhawati

Durga Singh ji provides historical continuity and mentorship. As a descendant of Shekhawati’s founder, his insights root the Conservancy’s work in lineage and legacy, while encouraging its reimagination for the future.

For every haveli lovingly restored,
Many more lie in ruin,
Whispering secrets,
Waiting for new voices.

We invite the torchbearers of culture —
Museums & Ministries
Architects & Conservationists
Artists, Thinkers, and Citizens
Join us in reimagining Shekhawati’s living heritage

Collaborate with us

Shekhawati
Cultural
Conservancy

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