Back to the Biennale

 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! 

Another complete surprise down an alleyway round the corner…Durga Puja a celebration from Bengal including a bamboo boat, paintings and a 3D interactive experience. This project draws on the festival as a creative inspiration presented in the context of contemporary art rather than as a religious ritual.

Finally further down the road in another derelict warehouse a fascinating archive of different castes in Kerala.

Last days in Kochi

We have reached our final destination! I thought I’d managed to get an Uber to take us back down the endless winding road back to Kochi  but then it seemed like he’d gone in a completely different direction so I had to cancel.

Leju, our homestay host who is also a taxi driver, offered to take us back for twice the price but it was worth it to have a gentle calm driver round all the bends and road works! He even insisted on washing the car before we left!

We are happy to be back here. As we get older we enjoy staying in places for longer, letting the environment become familiar rather than racing from one place to another, ticking off each and every tourist attraction! 

We do less but because we have been here so many times people remember us. The other day we flagged down a rickshaw to go down to Mattancherry to meet up with friends from Portugal and who should pick us up but Zakki who we first met six years ago in his brand new multi coloured tuk tuk! He gave us a free ride!

Accidentally we chanced upon Yousuf’s Art Gallery…still the same…and looking through old pics on our phones it was ten years since we were last there! Free ginger lime sodas and home made fruit cake! 

Charlie put his exhibition up in RedYoungs Sports club and has been going there every afternoon chatting to the locals and taking more photos.

Meanwhile I’m loving spending time at the Cochin club, swimming alone  in the pool surrounded by squawking crows and egrets, and yesterday in the huge rain tree I saw an eagle and a kingfisher! 

Watching the sun go down each evening and hoping we will be back again very soon! 

Maliyeckal homestay

Maliyeckal homestay is a spice farm in the middle of nowhere, nesting in the hills below the hill station of Munnar.

Huge misty mountains rise up above the lush vegetation of banana, cardamon, cashew, pepper vines and mango trees, with coconut palms swaying overhead. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a peaceful place, all you can hear is birdsong and sounds of other creatures, maybe crickets, that my app can’t identify!  

The roof terrace provides a cool retreat for the heat of the days. It should be cooler up here in the hills but it doesn’t feel like it during the day! 

We visited Munnar two years ago so we’ve visited the main tourist attractions and really just wanted to come up hear to relax, but our host suggested a driver might take us to see elephants come down to the river to drink at dusk. 

It sounded like an opportunity we shouldn’t miss!

However when we set off the driver said it was an hours drive, and mostly round the hairpin bends I’ve been trying to avoid! 

When we arrived at the river bank there were already Indians and tourists alike sitting on the grassy bank optimistically waiting. You are allowed to stay till 5.30 pm and if no elephants arrive you have to leave. We passed the time chatting to people from all over the world! 

Were we in luck, not that day, although the driver said that lots had been down earlier in the week.

Zero🐘🐘🐘 only a pile of 🐘 💩 as evidence on the grass as I ate my coconut ice cream!

I was really keen to try swimming in one of the river pools nearby! Jaan, the son of our host offered to take me, and helped me down the difficult path down to the river. The pool is part of the nearby power station system and most of the river was bubbling like a jacuzzi but I managed to get myself into the pool. It’s wasn’t as cold as I expected and I had such a refresh swim. Then the power station closed the sluice and the water level dropped by about a meter so I had to clamber out before I found myself in a mud bath!

There is also a pond so Charlie has been itching to try fishing in it! At first he was just catching little fish but after while he got to know the water and pulled a whopping tilapia out of the depths in the shade.

We were hoping our friend from Portugal would call in as she passed by to Munnar, and around 5pm we heard her walking down the narrow lane!  Her driver was too nervous to bring his car down! 

She stayed for less than half an hour for a lemongrass and ginger tea and jackfruit cake! 

It meant the world to us all, because we have been talking about this trip for so long! 

I started cooking tomato fry and I was going to do rice but suddenly Jaan arrived with the fish 🐟 perfectly cooked by grandma! I didn’t bother with the rice and fried okra! 

 

 

A studio visit to Nijeena’s and lunch with Wilson

We have come to North Paravur to visit our friend Nijeena who is a printmaker.

She has built the most amazing studio in her back garden where she runs SALT, Space for Art, Learning and Teaching…with workshops for artists and children.

She is the next artist to feature in the Shed gallery so Charlie was keen to talk to her about all her work. 

In the late afternoon she said let’s go to watch the sunset at Cherai beach! I’d hadn’t realised we were so close! So we drove through the backwaters and just about made it before the sun went down!

Although we’ve stayed at Cherai beach a few times, we’ve always been further north on Vypin Island and not in the centre which comes to life at night with sparkling lights adorning all the buildings…or have they just not got round to taking down the Christmas decorations! 

We ate dinner at an amazing restaurant called Tropical Trip Resto bar, a manmade tropical environment made out of concrete, but so realistic with a waterfall and stream running through the centre full of huge fish! 

The following day we set off to have lunch with our poet friend Wilson in Kuzhur. 

It’s right out in the sticks and Google maps kept changing the route! Maybe we did actually go round in circles! 

It was so lovely to see him at his Temple of Poetry…it  must be six years since we last visited, after the terrible floods in Kerala washed his house away. We were treated to best Thali ever, cooked by his friend Shiju who  runs a catering business.

Since we last visited Wilson’s garden has flourished, his house now seems to be hidden in the middle of a banana grove and the tree I planted is huge! 

We felt so relaxed, his place is an oasis of calm nestling in the Kerala countryside of paddy fields, palms and banana trees! 

Government College of Fine Art Thrissur

On our first visit to the Kochi Muziris Biennale  2013 we saw a poster for a printmaking exhibition at the Government College of Fine Art in Thrissur. 

Charlie made contact with the college via an art student he had met and two years later, exactly ten years ago he was invited to give a talk to students. 

We have become close friends with Kavitha Balakrishnan who runs an innovative  degree  course in art history and have visited the college every time we’ve been back in Kerala. 

As always the students are so enthusiastic and interesting to talk to!  

On the first day Charlie worked with the students on a project involving matchboxes and Surrealism and the day after he talked to the students about the online Shed Gallery that he curates. 

The students will exhibit their project in the Shed Gallery in April. 

A night in the forest

We were invited by Rajesh, one of Kavitha’s students at the Gov College of Fine Art to stay over night at his forest farm up in the hills near Peechy dam.

Rajesh is an architect with a flourishing business in Mumbai, but he decided to return to his home town to take a degree in art history! 

First he took us see the dream house he designed 20 years ago. Called the Christmas tree house after a Christmas tree 🌲 he planted in the garden! 

An amazing place, with an open part of the roof to let rain in to a central pool inside.

Rajesh is an inveterate collector! Cupboards filled with a cacophony of objects collected over the years, and a very interesting art collection. The garden had nutmeg trees and pepper vines, so we came away ladened with spices! 

Then we went up to ‘the farm’.  It’s such a beautifully peaceful environment, tucked away in the hills, surrounded by coconut 🥥 and cashew trees, and pepper vines climbing up all the trees. His land extends right down to the river. 

Across the valley the forest hills rise up in the mist and there are wild elephants and ‘ peacocks 🦚 dancing on the stones ’, and even the odd tiger 🐅. 

We walked down to a tiny house he has built below the main house, and got some coconuts for breakfast. When Baby arrived he took the husks off with a special tool outside the back door.

Rajesh rents the house out as a homestay and Baby looks after all the guests. Baby is Christian and trains the local choir at his church…he sang us a carol! 

On our way back to college we drove down to look at Peechy dam and the river that flows to his land. 

We stopped at the Indian Coffee house on the dual carriageway for breakfast and afterwards he took us next door to see a wood carver, hidden away in his little workshop. The guy wanted to give us a gift and said I could choose anything from his shop…it was somewhat overwhelming… but I spotted a roughly carved elephant. He insisted on giving us three, and Charlie is thrilled because he can use it in his Jose Saramago elephant project! 

The Barn Villa