Curator’s Perspective
A Kochi Muziris Biennale Collateral

Tanya Abraham

I have taken back much more than I have given to the custodial work last year. The collateral projects of the Kochi Muziris Biennale by Kashi Art Gallery helped me experiment, and offered me the conviction of the power of the arts to move beyond boundaries, and work on a communal and emotional level. The first project is titled “Artist; the Public Intellectual”, a community project executed by artists Gigi Scaria, Paula Sengupta, Meydad Eliyahu and Margaret Lanzetta. Each of these
artists used art of various mediums to speak about history, social issues, bring community connections and the idea of new cultures. For example, Eliyahu’s work (Jerusalem) connects the lost parts of the migrations of the Jews from Kochi to Israel. Kerala born Scaria (New Delhi) talks about women’s challenges in a patriarchal society, Sengupta (Kolkata) connects the community of refugee Tibetans in Kochi to the audience and Lanzetta (New York) speaks of popular cultures – those were the
result of a month’s residency in Kochi. They encouraged and facilitated the power that art possesses to highlight ideas/concerns/issues and speak them out aloud; artists adorning the role of Public Intellectuals and important citizens of our society.