This year…to the sound of drums…the biennale opened on time! In fact we arrived just after the gates opened!
It was lovely to meet up with old friends and have the opportunity to meet many of the artists over the next few days!
The inaugural day ended with an amazing concert on the Parade ground by Shanka Tribe.
The following day there were more openings in Mattancherry including EDAM, meaning Space in Malayalam exhibiting work by Keralan artists. We especially wanted to see the work of Unni Krishnan’s mum who we had visited at their farm and studio in the countryside a few years ago.
Her work was beautiful.
Then I was drawn towards some layered digital photos and chatted to the photographer Abul Pattanam who actually Charlie had already exhibited with years ago and I was already following on Instagram! He had known Martin Parr and Jo Spence and had trained at Farnham.
At Hallegua House we were fascinated by the installations of Amphibian Aesthetics.
I talked to one of the girls ( volunteer art educators there to help explain the installations) about the Kappiri…the spirits of enslaved Africans who were killed by the Portuguese and buried over their treasure to guard it when they fled from the Dutch.
The spirit of the Kappiri is still worshipped by local people in small shines tucked away in Mattancherry.
In another godown were two more incredible installations…the first by Niroz Salpathy, sculptures made out of found objects from landfill sites in Delhi! He’s been scavenging for all the objects over twelve years!
Then a huge installation by Ibrahim Mahama…the Parliament of Ghosts…we sat on our own to try to take in the massive sack covered warehouse filled with old chairs!
Finally further down the road in another derelict warehouse a fascinating archive of different castes in Kerala.
