Manish Arora
Professor & Head, Department of Applied Arts, Faculty of Visual Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Artist, photographer and designer.
Biography
Born and rooted in the living culture of Varanasi, the city whose ghats, artisan traditions, and philosophical conversations have shaped his aesthetic and intellectual identity, Manish Arora has spent over two decades building a career that refuses to separate making from thinking, or practice from pedagogy.
He completed all three of his degrees, B.F.A. (1994), M.F.A. (1996), and Ph.D. (2004), from the Faculty of Visual Arts, BHU, before earning the UGC Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Communication Design at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA (2014). This made him the first Fine Arts faculty member in India to receive this prestigious recognition, opening a conversation about the research potential of art and design disciplines within India’s academic ecosystem.
Today, Manish Arora serves as Professor & Head of the Department of Applied Arts and Coordinator of the Design Innovation Centre (DIC BHU), a Ministry of Education initiative connecting BHU with IIT BHU, MNNIT, IIIT Allahabad, and the University of Allahabad. As NISP Convener (2019–2026) he drafted and secured Executive Council approval for BHU’s National Innovation and Startup Policy. As IIC Convener he saw BHU rated a 4-star (top) Institution’s Innovation Council performer for 2019–20 and ranked 11th–25th in ARIIA 2020. The Design Innovation Centre has organised 1,488 innovation activities, and his funded research, from MoE SPARC, ICSSR, the World Bank, IoE BHU and PMMMNMTT plus the ₹10 crore Design Innovation Centre grant shared by five institutions, comes to about ₹11.8 crore.
As a design practitioner, his fingerprints are on India’s institutional landscape: he created Brand BHU’s graphic identity (the first redesign in 97 years), the brand identity of IIT (BHU), internal signage for BHU Trauma Centre under PMSS Yojana, and most recently, the monumental gateway “Tilak Dwar” for Deepotsav 2025, Ayodhya.
At the Department of Applied Arts he developed Typoyatra, a multilingual type design festival, along with programmes such as Kalakshar, Design Picnic, Typopicnic, Obscura and Topo-Photo, creating sustained spaces for design discourse in India.
Manish Arora’s vision is that design education must be simultaneously globally connected and civilisationally rooted, drawing from Bharatiya knowledge traditions while engaging fearlessly with AI, sustainability, and social justice.
Education and fellowships
- 2014UGC Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Health Communication Design
Johns Hopkins University (Bloomberg School of Public Health), Baltimore, USA, Aug 2013 – Jan 2014; first from the Fine Arts field in India - 2010Visiting Scholar (BHU – University at Buffalo exchange)
University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA, Jan–May 2010; taught 'Varanasi: Indian Culture' (Asian Studies Program) and 'Indian Advertising' (Department of Visual Studies); first in BHU and in Visual Arts - 2004Ph.D. in Applied Arts
Faculty of Visual Arts, BHU. Thesis: 'Advertising Merchandising Programme' (1997–2003) - 1998UGC NET in Visual Arts
University Grants Commission, New Delhi - 1996M.F.A. in Applied Arts
Faculty of Visual Arts, BHU - 1994B.F.A. in Applied Arts
Faculty of Visual Arts, BHU
Has travelled for work to the USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Jordan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
Career
- 2024Head, Department of Applied Arts, FoVA, BHU
- 2024Professor (direct), Department of Applied Arts, BHU
- 2019Associate Professor, BHU
- 2007Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Arts, BHU
- 2007Lecturer in Commercial Art, University College, Kurukshetra University
- 2004Assistant Professor (C) in Applied Art, Government College of Art (Panjab University), Chandigarh
- 2003Branch Head (Chandigarh), Approach Advertising & Exhibiters Pvt. Ltd., July 2003 – Nov 2004 Campaigns for TVS Motor, Maruti Udyog, Hindustan Motors and IGO (Onida)
- 1991–2007Freelance photography, graphic design and advertising work, including design for BHU departments (1992–97)
Memberships
- 2021–24Member, Association of Designers in India
- 2012Life member, Lucknow Camera Club
- 2010Horizon International Photographic Society, Lucknow
- 2008–10Federation of Indian Photography, Kolkata; India International Photography Council, New Delhi
“The pedagogy of Applied Arts must evolve continuously at the intersection of technology, culture, and human responsibility. My work is grounded in the belief that design is not merely a service; it is a form of civilisational thinking. I am committed to building institutions, nurturing researchers, and creating design frameworks that are ethically responsible, culturally intelligent, and globally relevant.”Manish Arora