Dhara Dave is an Assistant Professor at Anant, researching public art and scenic design in theatre and exploring how art interacts with spaces and other artistic mediums. Her primary method involves gathering firsthand survey data to understand people’s perceptions of art in public spaces. She collaborates with Abhivyakti City Arts Projects and delves into scenic design research through document analysis and creator interviews.

At Anant, Dhara teaches BVA, BDes and BArch programmes, covering topics such as Sculpture and Art History in the Visual Arts programme. She contributes to the Foundation Year of BDes and BArch by teaching and crafting courses like Visualisation and Representation, Elements of Design and World of Art and Design. Drawing from her art, curatorial and research experiences, Dhara’s teaching approach aids students in merging theoretical comprehension with practical skills.

Dhara earned her Bachelor of Visual Arts degree, specialising in Sculpture, and a Master of Visual Arts degree, specialising in Art History and Aesthetics, from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She also holds a Diploma in Sanskrit Teaching from Shri Somnath Sanskrit University, Somnath and completed an artist residency at the Kanoria Centre for Arts.

Before joining Anant, Dhara was a visiting faculty member at the Fine Arts College, VNSGU, Surat, and CVM College of Fine Arts, Vidhyanagar. She was also an Assistant Professor at Grow More School of Architecture at Himmatnagar.  

Dhara has showcased her research prowess by presenting papers at esteemed events including the UGC-ASIHSS National Seminar, a seminar hosted by the Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy, the SBE-II International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2017 held at IIT Roorkee, the International Conference on Scholarly Communication, Open‐access Publishing and Ethics (SCOPE-2018) at SPA Vijayawada and the 7th Annual Conference ACE-2019 in Singapore. She won the best paper award at the SBE-II International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2017 hosted by IIT Roorkee.

She has a rich background as both a visual artist and curator. She was the site manager for the exhibition ‘To Let The World In,’ curated by Chaitanya Sambrani, showcased at Art Chennai 2012. In November 2023, she curated the Visual Arts segment at Abhivyakti City Arts Project Edition 5 in Ahmedabad. 

Dhara is a sculptor who loves exploring various materials in her artwork. Her creations often centre on themes of perception and beauty. She has showcased her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions.