Dear Prospective Students,

My name is Nishtha Dani and I am the BGC admissions ambassador for this year. I am here to answer any questions you might have about being a student at BGC or regarding the admissions process. Please do not hesitate to reach out! I hope to meet many of you at the admissions events this year including our first open house on October 20.

I am a second-year MA student focused on studying medieval Islamic Art and Material Culture. I studied history and visual arts as an undergrad at Ashoka University in India as an undergrad and moved to NYC in August of 2023. We’ve just started our fall semester and I am currently working on proposing my qualifying paper which will be on Seljuq Bronze Mirrors from the 12th century. I settled on this topic during my second semester while taking a course about the occult in the Middle Ages with Ittai Weinryb and was fascinated by the multidimensional nature of small and ubiquitous objects like the bronze mirrors.

As you may know, BGC is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, close to a multitude of museums, collections, and libraries. Due to this proximity and the connections built over decades, you will have access to museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and MOMA throughout the program. I love being able to visit the Met for my own object-based research or to encounter fields of inquiry that I am unfamiliar with. I have a personal interest in medieval manuscripts and prints, and being able to examine manuscripts from the early and late medieval periods has been a highlight. I’ve been able to touch, read, and wonder at manuscripts in the Special Collections at the NYPL. In class visits we’ve been to learn, in intimate settings, from the curator of Islamic Manuscripts at NYPL and examine the paintings, illustrations, and materiality of manuscripts. I have also had in-depth tours of the Watson library at the Met, and even had access to the storage at the Met to examine medieval bronze mirrors that are currently not on display.

These opportunities to visit collections regularly and build connections with objects and people is part of why I decided to come to BGC! The hands-on experience is facilitated through classes, workshops, and materials days. As a student at BGC, you will be able to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities that lie at your doorstep!

Best regards,