Cara was founded to service the needs of an increasingly digital cultural sector and we help museums, galleries and practitioners make the most out of the new creative and strategic opportunities that this opens up.

We take a research-led approach to projects, where an academic understanding and respect for the material, artists, communities and stakeholders in question requires an informed and sensitive strategy. This approach has seen us consult on a diverse range of projects—from digitising one of the largest collections of textiles in South Asia, to collaborating with Microsoft and the Museum of Art & Photography to explore the use of artificial intelligence in art historical research.
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As the art world also evolves in terms of a new focus on accessibility and inclusion, the need for more human-centered strategies and cross-disciplinary collaboration—working not only with senior leadership, but also community leaders, local designers and the public—is crucial in making a meaningful success of any organisation. We know what we don’t know, and believe our success comes from asking the right questions and being able to bring the right expertise to the table to advise and deliver on complex projects. Based on the type of the project, we then collaborate with designers, curators, editors, educators and tech specialists around the world to deliver results for our clients.

Founder and Director
Nathaniel Gaskell

With over two decades of experience in the art and cultural sectors, Nathaniel is the founder and director of Cara Consulting and works actively across all our projects. After studying fine art at the Arts University Bournemouth, he took a masters degree in Cultural Studies at the London Consortium (a collaborative programme of the Architectural Association, Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Science Museum and the Tate Gallery). Nathaniel began his professional career with Eric Franck Fine Art in London, before working as a photo archivist for Source Photographica in Melbourne, Australia. Moving to India in 2010, he worked for the Tasveer Art Gallery, where he established its international programme and led the gallery for five years as a Partner and Director. With Abhishek Poddar he is a co-founder of the Museum of Art & Photography in Bengaluru, one of the first private major art museums in the country, and subsequently set up its online educational arm, the MAP Academy. He remains closely involved with both projects.

As an editor and author, Nathaniel has worked on research and publication projects on the subject of South Asian and South East Asian art and culture, including Photography in India: A Visual History From the 1850s to the Present (Prestel), which he co-authored with Dr Diva Gujral; Hikari: Contemporary Photography from Japan (Japan Foundation); Derry Moore: In the Shadow of the Raj (Prestel/ Random House); William Dalrymple: The Historian’s Eye (HarperCollins); Maharanis: Women from Royal India (MAPIN); and Goh Beng Kwan: Nervous City (authored by Joleen Loh), (National Gallery Singapore). His edited monograph on the Indian artist, Jyoti Bhatt, Time, and Time again, is being published by the Museum of Art & Photography in 2022.

Nathaniel served on the board of the Museum of Art & Photography (2018–2021), as a jury member for the TFA photography prize (2015–18) and the Sienna Awards (2021), a nominator for the Kyoto Art Prize (2019), the Pix Pictet Award (2017–21) and the Sundaram-Shergill grant for photography (2021). Born in London, he is now based in Singapore, and is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.