Mr Girikumar Sekharakurup was awarded a UK Travel Award (2002-03) when conservator in private practice. Gurgaon, Haryana, for training in advanced conservation techniques at the Centre for Photographic Conservation, London.
S.Girikumar is one of the leading art conservators in India. He took a Masters degree in Conservation of works of art from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi and a Post Graduate internship in the Conservation Laboratory of Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, Italy. He has also taken specialised courses – in Conservation of Photographic materials from The Centre for Photographic Conservation, London and Metropolitan Museum, New York.
As a Conservator in Private Practice, for nearly 30 years, he has worked with a number of cultural institutions in India in various capacities. He has been involved in many projects: documentation, condition assessment, conservation & restoration, exhibition and storage of art collections of various nature and material compositions. He has worked with a number of individual and institutional collections in the country like the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts New Delhi, HEH the Nizam’s Private Collection, Hyderabad, the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi, Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, Tata Central Archives, Pune, The City Palace Museum, Udaipur, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in New Delhi etc.
He is regularly invited as Guest Lecturer and teaches theoretical and practical aspects of conservation of a variety of materials to the MA Conservation students at the National Museum Institute, New Delhi and Traditional Building Materials and conservation theory to the M.Arch (Conservation) students at the Singhagad College of architecture, Pune, the MS University of Baroda, among other institutions in the country and abroad. He has also published a number of articles on many conservation related topics.