One of the best things as a visitor at the Kochi Muziris-Biennale is the daily, free guided tour at 11am and 3pm at Aspinwall House. Though I only had a couple of hours to spare (and some of the works seemed more interesting conceptually) I really enjoyed my visit thanks to the insightful tour by our super art mediator Adil. Here are some of the works I most resonated with. From Devi Seetharam’s series “Brothers, Fathers and Uncles.” The body language is so familiar and real and beautifully painted; it also instantly evokes how vulnerable I too feel as a woman here; and the phallic imagery is hilarious. In South…
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Before the lights went down, Tibet Theatre group’s Lhakpa Tsering announced to the houseful Prithvi Theatre that this production of the play “Pah-Lak”, is the first time that an entire Tibetan troupe is telling their story in their language, and taking it through India, in 63 years (since the 1959 Tibet uprising against Chinese rule that led to the Dalai Lama’s exile in India). In the play, a young Tibetan rebels against her father (a bitter, CIA-trained resistance fighter) and joins a Buddhist nunnery.But when she loses the nunnery and her peace-loving mentor to Chinese political “re-education”, she immolates herself as an act of non-violent resistance—only to survive and find…
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If you’re in Kerala, make time for the guided tour at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Our guide Shaili took us through the highlights at the main venue Aspinwall House, making connections between the art and its political, social and personal context. Fully worth it, even if you have only an hour like my parents and I did. The tour runs twice a day, at 11am and 3pm, until 29 March 2019. It’s free and no registration needed, just get the entry ticket (Rs100) and turn up at the Aspinwall House info desk. This biennale is especially significant because it has been put together by its first female curator, the renowned artist…