‘In Search of the Author’ by Ajay kumar [Kochi]

Tanya Abraham

I write this article during a time when I am noting down details of another one of a similar language, for a local publication. The article concerns itself with the loss of architectural history of the town I grew up in. Coincidental perhaps, but Ajay kumar’s exhibition at Durbar Hall Art Centre, Kochi deepened my need to cry out for the loss of things, almost naturally. His exhibition of three sets of work paintings – titled ‘In Search of the Author’, ‘The Wealth of Nations’ and other independent works by him, set this tone strong and deep; it brings to surface a very crucial and blatant fact – of change, of things washed away with little memories left to tell a story.

To those who never knew of it, it never matters; and for those who did, time erases memories. This idea Ajaykumar brings forth in his works, a thread running through the entire exhibition. He highlights the seven works of a fictitious Italian artist called Catherine du Vano (titled In search of the Author, supposedly painted in 2026), who, in Ajaykumar’s story, lived in Kovalam, Thiruvanthapuram, close to where Ajaykumar once did a mural on the walls of a village resort near Poovar (titled ‘Archaeology of Memories’,2006). Images of Catherine’s works and those done by him at Poovar are part of the exhibition – Catherine’s works seem the base upon which he builds the exhibition, and his murals at the resort add to the testimony of change.