Lakshmi is a historian of the Roman Empire and multidisciplinary artist. She holds a PhD in Classics from the University of Chicago and is Assistant Professor of History at Columbia University. She divides her time between New York City and Chicago.

Lakshmi’s academic research explores mobility and relations between provincial communities of the Roman Empire. She also examines forms of 20th century epistemic resistance to the discipline of Roman history itself. Her art practice is equally engaged in acts of retelling. Trained in Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, she creates music, installations, and performances that share real and imagined personal histories in lush, immersive landscapes. Collapsing the boundary between past and present, Lakshmi plays with time.

academic cv (.pdf) | artist cv (.pdf)

Select awards:

• Humanities War & Peace Initiative Grant, Columbia University, 2019

• Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, 2014

Select academic publications:

• Romans Abroad: Associations of Roman Citizens from the Second Century BCE to the Third Century CE (in progress monograph)

• “Mobility.” In A Cultural History of Western Empires in Antiquity, ed. C. F. Noreña, 131-152. New York: Bloomsbury Academic UK, 2018.

• “One and Many: Associations of Roman Citizens in Greece.” In Social Dynamics under Roman Rule: Mobility and Status Change in the Provinces of Achaia and Macedonia, ed. A. Rizakis and S. Zoumbaki, 407–25. Meletemata 74. Athens: National Hellenic Research Foundation, 2017.

Select exhibitions:

• Hive (with Nancy Davidson), Krannert Art Museum, current

• A Half-Light Chorus, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Chicago, 2018

• Maalai, Reinterpreting Religion (group show), Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2018

• Prex Gemina (with Paula Matthusen), Cinque Mostre (group show), American Academy in Rome, 2015

Select performances:

• Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, August 2019

• Glasner Studio, Edgar Miller Legacy, August 2019

• Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, April 2019

• Lincoln Park Conservatory, May and August 2018

• Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, October 2016

Select press:

• “Ancient and modern intersect in ‘Hive’ exhibition at Krannert Art Museum,” Illinois News Bureau, January 2020

• Interview, The World, Public Radio International, January 2017

• “For MCA 50, ambient musician Lykanthea explores culture, history, and identity with her dream ensemble,” Chicago Reader, October 2016

• “Lakshmi Ramgopal is a musician’s musician,” Chicago Tribune, February 2016