Fort Kochi, a natural and cultural hub, that has over the years absorbed the stories of its European and local residents, is now set to welcome novel visual narrations by artists and designers from across the country and beyond, for the fifth edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Initially scheduled to open on December 12, 2022, the event, perhaps mirroring the uncertainty and ambivalence apparent in the past few years, was postponed at the nth hour due to organisational challenges. While smaller programmes and exhibitions such as the Students’ Biennale, the Invitations Programme, the Satellite Exhibitions and the IDAM Exhibition opened across 12 different venues in Kochi on the initially determined date, its main venues—Aspinwall House, Anand Warehouse, and Pepper House—opened to the public on December 23, 2022, across multiple locations in Fort Kochi and Ernakulum in Kerala, India.
The art biennale, titled In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire, is curated by Singapore-based artist Shubigi Rao and will remain open to the public until April 10, 2023. It hosts the works of 80 artists and collectives. At the opening of the event, Rao shares, "If you walk through Aspinwall House, Pepper House, and Anand Warehouse, you will not see the works in isolation, but actually speaking to each other. That's a really important part of who we are. None of us exists in isolation. When we write, when we think, when we make, when we speak, we are unconsciously drawing on the words and ideas of others. There is no such thing as a lone genius. That's a myth. We are all part of a collective thinking."
THE SEA IS A BLUE MEMORY BY PRIYAGEETHA DIA
Priyageetha Dia, an arts practitioner based in Singapore, presents her artistic vision through visual narratives that translate prominent historical occurrences into immersive environments. The Sea is a Blue Memory captures experiences of indentured labourers who migrated from India to Malaya’s rubber plantations under the British colonial rule.
Priyageetha Dia’s The Sea is a Blue Memory Image: Courtesy of STIR
