An Artistic Rendezvous – Day 2 as visitor at the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018

We were in Fort Kochi by 10AM on our second day there. The various galleries were open by then. It was a sultry day, and although we started by walking from one venue to the next, there were autorikshaws plying at minimum fare between them and we opted to take those. In fact some venues are located next to eachother, so you can literally walk from one into the next.

We started our tour at David Hall which is an old restored Dutch Bungalow which comprises an art gallery, a cute cafe as well as a space meant for performing arts.

One of two artists showcased at David Hall was Vanessa Baird whose works were weirdly funny and disturbing at the same time;

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Zanele Muholi’s Faces and Phases were also on display at David Hall. These stunning faces on black and white photographs of people from the South African queer community stared back at you even as you entered the gallery.

Fallen sunshine

Kashi Townhouse is just a short walk away from there.  This art gallery housed works by Mochu, Mochu and Suvani Suri, Sunil Gupta & Charan Singh, Shanta KV and Afra Shafiq. Intimate photographs of members from the LGBQT community by Gupta and Singh were on display showing the subjects sharing intimate moments and going about their daily life along side a plaque that told their stories.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The adjacent Kashi Art Cafe displayed visuals by Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar.

Our next stop was Pepper House Cafe, a cafe cum art gallery. Since our visit there about a month ago, the debate continues if this is the same cafe where the protagonist from ‘Premam’, the hit Malayalam movie of 2015, meets his soul mate. It was also one of my favourite venues. Heri Dono’s Trojan Ships felt like an oxymoron, the cherubic faces on the aeroplane like installation in Flying Angels from the Sky was happy and vibrant;

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Meanwhile Lubna Chowdhury’s ceramic pieces looked pretty in their unending display cases but on reflection combined to create a mesmeric vista of hues, Julie Gough’s Distance is a Stage of Mind made your heart ache for a forgotten time and Barthelemy Toguo’s Urban Requiem – New World Climax referred to diverse subjects such as the recent floods and Me Too movement;

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Map Project Space was our next venue to visit. Once a warehouse used by the Dutch for trading purpose now it is owned by the Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore. Artists whose works were on display here were Ranna Hamadeh, Ines Dojak, Tania Bruguera, Temsuyanger Longkumer and Aernout Mik.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Ines Doujak and John Barker’s exhibits focus on the downside of globalization and trade.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Pavillion, a structure in Cabral Yard provides a space for performers, poets and musicians to perform. In an open shed, young visitors were enthusiastically participating in one of many workshops which are held regularly during the course of the Biennale. Also at Cabral Yard are the Edible Archives and a cafe run by local Kudumbashree members.

Ongoing activity at Cabral Yard

The streets bear a festive feel

TKM Warehouse is at a fair distance from the other venues. You see here works by Brook Andrew, Probir Andrew, Jitish Kallat, Domenec, Ajay Desai and Celia-Yunior. Also on display are works from the Srinagar Biennale.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Far away from the small town atmosphere of Fort Kochi and right amidst the hustle and bustle of the busy Ernakulam city is the Durbar Hall. There are three artists on display here- Mrinalini Mukherjee, KP Krishnakumar and Chittaprosad.

Here are some of the works from Mrinalini Mukherjee’s extensive creations on display.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Works of art by KP Krishnakumar and Chittaprosad were displayed on the first floor of Durbar Hall.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Here we concluded an incredible two days of viewing art. Due to shortage of time we missed visiting Anand Warehouse, one of the venues of the Kochi Biennale, as well as Collaterals exhibitions displayed at various venues across the city and the Students Biennale which I was told (and which was further confirmed by a video shared on social media) is outstanding.

But there is always a next time. So until then…!!!

An Artistic Rendezvous – Day One as Visitor at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018-19

As wordy as my blog posts usually are, I decided to limit myself to mostly images accompanied by a basic introduction/description of the works.

It was my first visit to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, in fact my first visit to any art event  of this kind. It was at one time inspiring and overwhelming. The carefully curated art works widens ones perspective and outlook on the world. The first, and the largest venue that we visited was the Aspinwall House. A sprawling courtyard with several structures including a bungalow houses art works from around the world. We started at the ground floor of the Admin Block and worked our way up to the first floor and elsewhere thereafter.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In no particular order:

Works of art are often meant to shock an indifferent community of people into awareness and possible action. Here are some works from the Biennale which were lighter on the shock factor (if at all) and were easy on the senses:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Most of the art work and installations were extremely sombre.

Priya Ravish Mehra’s intricate tapestry disintegrated into shreds of fibre alluding to her personal battle with terminal illness;

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dark and gloomy were these works of art/installations

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There were visuals and installations celebrating the more recent Supreme Court verdict that decriminalised homosexuality.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This work by Shambaavi reminds one of agriculture and harvest, and maybe some politics as well;

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Chitra Ganesh’s Amar Chitra Katha-like take on modern events was one of my personal favourites. The feminist undertones is not to be missed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Kerala floods of 2018 was a recurring theme;

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Issues of gender bias and inequality was also raised via the medium of art.

Woman power on display by the dauntless Guerilla Girls

Some of the other striking installations and art works were:

Shirin Nishat’s installation with a dual screen depicted gender disparity in the performing arts in Iran;

Temsuyanger Longkumer’s God’s Summit. a structural installation with accompanying audio, was strangely eerie and amusing at one and the same time;

William Kentridge’s stop motion animation installation with multiple screens, More Sweetly Play the Dance, was disturbingly beautiful despite the jaunty brass band score in the background;

BV Suresh’s Canes of Wrath hits you metaphorically with it’s depiction of ‘divisive politics of hate‘;

Especially delightful were Cyrus Kabiru’s C-stunners and the exhilarating story behind it;

While Song Dong’s Touching my Father was soulful, his Water Temple, which was also one of the more popular outdoor installations (So heavy was the footfall that the reflective floor was damaged and the ‘Remove Footwear’ sign was taken off lest visitors hurt themselves) that refers to a time in the artist’s life when he could only afford to paint on rocks with water offered a space for visitors to try their hand at art;

Tejal Shah’s beautiful photographs were a not-to-miss especially the queering of Raja Ravi Varma-isque like portraits;

Shocking in many ways, and defiant for breaking many bigoted perceptions was Sonia Khurana’s Charlie-Chaplin-isque ‘Bird’;

And there were installations that appealed to the masses and drew them in droves:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Curated by Anita Dube, the varied art works and installations left one with a sense of wonder and excitement that lasts long after you’ve left the venue. For the artist in me, it was a delightful and inspiring experience.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale began on 12th December 2018 and will be on until 29th March 2019.

[A special thanks to Ms. Thayil and Ms. A. Menon for the wonderful experience]

 

The Forgotten Son by Dev Popat – a Review

 

 

What? A book by a fifteen year old? Aren’t they usually out playing cricket or sitting indoors glued onto their computer screens? But the fact is that young Dev Popat has written and published a book of his own. What a feat!

Now about the book … almost every Indian is well-versed with the plots and at least a few subplots from the epic Mahabharata. There are scores of characters – lovable, awe-inspiring, mighty, impressive, despicable…. Dev has picked one of the most misunderstood and wronged characters and made him the protagonist of his first book ‘The Forgotten Son’.  The hero, Karna, abandoned at birth and forsaken by those he looked up to, is one character from the Mahabharata you don’t hear about as much as you’d want to. His face off with his enemies, his initial infatuation with the woman he could never have, the only friendship he forges and stands by steadfastly – all this and much more has been dealt with by Dev in a style of story-telling that is simple yet engrossing, informative yet interesting and entertaining. He has done his research well and isn’t just narrating an oft-told tale that we think we know so well. So kudos to you on that, Dev.

The book itself is eye-catching with the colours and illustration on its cover and I think the title indicates more than the fact that ‘this son’ was forsaken by almost everyone, even those that should have been on his side the most. It also seems to remind us that this brave, honest and faithful man, son of our soil, has seldom received his fair share of the respect and awe he rightfully deserved.

To sum it up, this is a well-written first book by Dev and I hope he keeps writing and continues to impress…

Six Stages of the Writer in Me

These are the stages (and some difficulties) I go through as a writer of novels (having written a second one, both unpublished and a couple of partially completed novels as well, the stages been pretty standard every time)

1. The excitement following the conceptualisation of a theme, building characters, the plot. I can’t wait to start writing the novel. I am so excited that I may even dump other half-done projects quite unceremoniously.
2. The writing part. The creative energy flows. The characters that had been lurking in my mind comes alive with their many foibles, troubles and problems. The first parts of the jigsaw puzzle pieces come together.
3. Period of uncertainty. Half-way through the novel, the plot isn’t thickening the way I wanted it to. I worry that it doesn’t meet my initial expectation. This is also the period when a project can go into limbo if another better and seemingly more thrilling story has popped into my head.
4. I persist. I plod on tapping away on my keyboard. The story has to move on and reach the end I must. I suddenly see that the word count isn’t in keeping with the ideal number of words for that kind of genre. So I ease down a bit. In my worry that this may also be one of those has-been projects, I’ve been going at it too quickly.Hence the shorter narratives.
5. Another reason I’ve been hurrying up is that I can’t wait to get to the end. It is exciting for me as well to know how the last bit will turn out (although I know it in a gist). Quite a bit of the story has written itself by this time. New thoughts have arrived during the writing process. New characters have introduced themselves with a promise to fill in a certain unforeseen loophole that needed to be fixed.
6. The end. Phew! Quite a ride it was. I remember a point in time when the whole story and plot had the makings of a best-seller. But I am not so sure about that any more. Only time will tell. Meanwhile I am happy I even wrote it down. It wasn’t all that easy and I managed to get it done. So I pat myself on the back and give myself a treat because I just wrote myself a story.

A mother is born

When the nest goes empty

The cord is cut and the doctor announces over the silence that follows the din: ‘It’s a baby girl/boy.’

After nine months or more of waiting anxiously, your little one and you are two separate entities. Your carefree life changes overnight, if this is your first baby. You have to schedule your needs and wants around this new entrant’s whims. Your days are never the same again, and mostly neither are the nights. You take on this delightful new life with certain ups and downs, misgivings amidst the zillion highs of motherhood – the first smile, the first word, first steps and so on. Every time the baby becomes less dependant, another invisible cord is cut.

Three or four years down the line, your child is ready to go to school. From the moment, he or she held your hand, you have never let go, unless someone you know well and was responsible enough was taking over. For the first time, you let go of those tiny fingers and hand them over to a total stranger. Another cord has been cut.

The first signs of the child turning independant go unnoticed. By now, they are going down to play by themselves, travel by school bus or walk there on their own, go away for several days on school excursions and finally one day they walk out of your home to create their own life. And you never saw that coming, even when you knew from the first moment that it was a given.

So now what? Waiting for them to visit you so that you can relive the old glory – mothering, pampering, fussing and pretending that the invisible cord still exists and binds you?  For even when the child is free of that bondage, once a mother, you are bound for life. That in its stead will nurture a new kind of love – a selfless one. And when you gave up your carefree life, you also gave up a part of yourself. For it wasn’t just a little human being you gave birth to. It was a tiny bit of your heart that took on life and went on its separate way.

Your own box of story ideas – how to get it

Someone read the blurb of my first book yesterday and asked me this – ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

A lot of my stories have just happened. Inspiration, though, as always comes and goes. The best stories are written down immediately. On the other hand, if you are not in a position to write the entire thing down, just keep a little note pad handy to make quick notes. I have my story ideas all jotted down neatly and it has been collected over the past ten years. About eighty percent of those ideas came to me during the first two years. If you don’t have a notepad when inspiration strikes, then you can save a few important cue words in your mind, like ‘girl, shop window, pretty dress, salesman’. Run this through your head a few times and chances are, the idea will stick around till you find a book.

Are you one of those susceptible to seeing strange dreams? If you’ve tried to find meanings in them and failed, maybe you can use them for your story-telling.

Songs are a good source of inspiration. Choose one with meaningful lyrics and possibly a catchy lilting tune. Close your eyes and let your thoughts wander. One of my best stories was inspired by a song and even to this day, I am reminded of the song even if I so much as see the title.

The books and fables you’ve read through your growing years, and later, can help too. Look at any mythological story from a different perspective. Chitra Divakarunni’s ‘Palace of Illusions’ is a retelling of the epic Mahabharata as told from Draupadi’s perspective. Draupadi thinks like a woman of the 21^st century. The entire novel was riveting despite the story being old. So tap mythology. Pick up a story from the good old favourites, folk tales or the stories Grandma told you. Even a fairy tale perhaps. I grew up loving stories like the very simple ‘Kaatje’s Treasure’ and more complicated ones like ‘Peer Gynt’ and ‘Blue Baba of the Marsh’.

A role reversal in a story like ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. Exercises like these help a writer to limber up. It also helps one to take an unbiased view on things and work on the various shades of grey that makes each character what they are. Movies like ‘ET’ and ‘Avatar’ stand out from other sci-fi movies because for once the aliens were not aggressors. It always helps to look at things differently.

Listening and looking around helps a lot. The idea is to blend in and not appear too obvious though. You are not an eavesdropper or a weirdo, you are merely a story-teller looking for stories. Conversations and sights give great beginnings to interesting stories. I once saw an old lady sitting by the side of the road and watching a couple of vegetable vendors coming down that path. I’m yet to write down the story that vision inspired.

Newspapers are an amazing source. Read interesting news tidbits and see what it can inspire. A personal favourite was written after I read about a man who supported his infirm mother and brother both financially and physically. They, in their stead, kept taunting him until he attacked them. My story has nothing to do with that man or his family but grew from the thought – how much can one do for others while taking flak without breaking down?

Here are more visions that inspired pleasant, vague, sad or funny thoughts—

A boy on a cycle peeking into a car and seeing two pretty young girls inside;

Another one sitting on a high wall and wistfully watching a game of cricket being played by children whom he cannot join because of social differences;

A mother angrily leading her daughter down the road…

It can be the beginning, ending or the very crux of a story. The genres could be  romance, humour, sci-fi, horror or anything else one likes. And it would actually help if one stayed away from the obvious…like ‘romance’ for the plot with the boy on the cycle and two girls in the car.

(c)

Blissful Discontent – an e-book by Pritha Lal

When I was a young mother (and often times even now) I’ve got the best advice (of the non-medical kind) from other mothers. Although Ms.Lal reminds us that this book is not to be taken as a manual on bringing up your little ones, I felt that a new mother could pick up so much by reading this, a thought here, a helpful suggestion there. Her views on bringing up her beautiful daughter, Parijat, teaching her to respect and care for things and values that count, is very inspiring.

Drawing parallels between her experience as an Organisational Development Consultant and the lessons she is learning growing up with her toddler, Parijat, now that she is a stay-at-home Mom, the contents of ‘Blissful Discontent’ is peppered with humorous anecdotes and thoughtful moments. Little Parijat’s gestures , questions and remarks makes you think most of the time and it will definitely make you smile…I’m hoping there is a next part, or parts, to this riveting narrative.

Sapthama Shree Tatskara – The Seven Good Thieves — An Observation

*ing – Prithviraj, Nedumudi Venu, Asif Ali and others

Be warned : This is not a review. Do not read if you’ve not watched yet.

Rating : Highly watchable

I speak here of a mid-90s American movie I watched long ago. In one of the best climax sequences I’ve ever seen in a film, one of the suspects, the seemingly weakest of them all, is let off after much taunting by the investigators as they imagine he is of no use to their case. Even as he limps away teary-eyed, the investigators begin to receive a fax message with an image of the mastermind behind the heist. As the portrait emerges from the machine, there is  a flurry of activity as they begin to pursue the weakling who just walked away. But he’s too smart for them and has already altered his gait and slipped into a waiting vehicle. And in one mind-blowing change of perception, you realise you’ve been hearing his version, albeit a corrupted one, of how the events had occurred.

Let me not spoil the movie for you by telling you which one it is, and on the other hand if you’ve seen it, you’ll know which film I’m talking about.

Heist movies are a dime-a dozen these days. We had the more light-hearted ‘Oceans’ series after that. And many more with subtle unpredictable twists and mind-boggling turns. And then we have our very own Indian versions.

Of these I really liked Johnny Gaddar (a little violent but quite entertaining) for it’s plot, but whatever else I’ve watched have been too contrived and westernised to be convincing.

And now the Malayalam version ‘Saptamashree Tatskara’. An Indian movie maker knows (just like an Indian author does) that he is at the risk of turning into a copy cat of his Western counterpart while handling certain genres, like fantasy or thrillers (crime or otherwise). A smart person will consciously avoid it. Excepting for the acrobat accomplice and the done-to-death decoy plot, I didn’t spot too many similarities in ‘Saptama…’and other movies I’ve watched.

Served with dollops of humour and a little pathos, the fun characters keep you engrossed from the word ‘go’. From the simpleton to the lunatic, the seven thieves do not have any outstanding back stories to tell and these ordinary stories makes for many a chortles and chuckles. That, and a lot of crap, literally, which caters to the recent need for sick humour. The moral is simple enough…digging your way through a criminal life, you may either hit a pot of s**t or you may end up at the pinnacle of hope and glory.

The movie is shot in Trichur and featured in crucial scenes are the Viyoor Jail and the famous Pulikali (Tiger dance) performed during the 10-day Onam celebrations only in this town. As one of the inmate puts it, the jail is full of ‘creatives’ who do what they are best at. [PS . The chapatis and chicken curry of Viyoor jail is very famous and I’m not joking when I say that I’ve seen people lining up in serpentine queues to pick up their order on Christmas eve.]  And the Trichur dialect the characters use with it’s famous (and normally misused, thankfully not here) Trichur accent  like the time the same inmate says in his confession to the priest “I was ‘nicely’ looting the temple donation box…”. That’s when he gets ‘nicely’ caught as well.

In fact the story of the film unravels as the confessions of the above-mentioned inmate who is bewildered enough by the turn of events to appear before the priest after seven…not days, not weeks, not even months, but years.

And for all the tightness (mostly) of script and riveting and fun story-telling, what of Prithviraj’s Krishnan Unni?  Just like the six other accomplices who are stumped as to his motive, the audience are too. And what does the ending imply…that he is a well-to-do good Samaritan?

Or more likely, he is a good crook who likes to set things right, but being a crook, there are no straight paths. So where does that leave us? And do we expect a sequel (or even a prequel) ala ‘Oceans Eleven’?

Loving Art Books

If you so much as dabble in a  bit of art, chances are that you own at least a few books or treatises on art. You may have looked up many more and will definitely stop by the art section in a book store and browse intensely through books that may look interesting. A painting on any wall will elicit more than a passing interest. And you have tried once, if not often, to draw like one of the masters whose works you have seen and admired.

I picked this up when I was just 12 years old and wanted to draw ‘just like that’

I have to stop and stare if I come across a bookshop, more so if they have an extensive art section. It’s been a while since I’ve stopped buying such books. For one, they are expensive. Apart from that I have a fairly decent collection of books on possibly every thing I need to know…how to do water colours, how to create portraits, how to make pencils sketches, an art encyclopedia that lists different types of art work, a directory of different international commercial artists with samples of their work and a printer’s colour-chart book.

Why do I need these books?

Here’s why. It’s inspiring. Thoughts and ideas lead to similar or even different strains of thoughts or ideas. The book of portraits (and some of the other how-to books) is a good way to exercise and limber your creative muscles. Lastly, but not least, in a way an artist communicates through his work. When you’ve looked at an art work, you’ve actually spoken to a master or someone who is slowly lumbering his way up the ladder of success, and there’s much to glean from such a conversation.

Some of the amazing art books picked up from various places

On an average day, I like to turn the pages and pore over the contents of some of these books, and if I was uninspired when I started looking at the book, usually I’m brimming with ideas by the end of it.

I usually pick up these books during any one of Bombay’s popular bookstore, Strand’s biannual fair. The books are reasonably priced and a section is dedicated to an extensive collection of books on art.

Danai bookshop, which is now closed, also had a good collection when I first went there over fifteen years ago. The first few books I picked up from there are still a source of inspiration. Just before it closed, I bought a book of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings at a throw away price.

And what brought me to this topic. Just yesterday, I was out clothes shopping and came across this little shop in the same complex.

It was getting  late, so I didn’t get much time to browse, but among the many titles on sale were collections of work done by popular artists, books on architecture and sculpture and framed prints of works by Mario Miranda.

Not just an art book section, but a whole shop dedicated to art!!!

Once Upon a Time, A Treasure Chest

Some memories are the kind dreams are made of.

Somewhere towards the end of the 1970s, my father subscribed and bought a series of encyclopedias (in bright red and blue hard binding…the red set were heavy  A3 sized volumes, was comprehensive and touched on everything from animals to famous people with really beautiful photographs and illustrations). I remember deciding to go through the books till one chance encounter with the article that dealt with ‘shrunken heads’ with some pictures to go with it, put an end to all the enthusiasm.

Accompanying the amazing volumes was a cardboard life-size replica of a treasure chest…the free goodies that came with the encyclopedia. The chest was packed with books…the latest bestsellers in fiction, many many how-to books and a book or two on technology as well. I remember delving into the box with my father in open-mouthed wonder. I was to fall in love with books by and by.

Many of those books still remain with us, the whole set of encyclopedias still lie in my father’s living room…it holds the pride of place, and I doubt they make them like that any more.

Among the many how –to books was one on How to keep a cat and How to keep a dog. It had everything from all the breeds of both animals possible, different diets for pups or kittens,  how to handle illness, how to groom, the works. And as I entered upon my adolescent years, there was this book called ‘Beauty Around the Clock’ that got me interested in looks, exercises, diet and weight-watching.

Then there was a book of remarkable Sci-fi short stories that I began to read when I was around 15 or so. It was  while reading the third or fourth story in that book that I got so scared—a story about a man who is troubled by his half-dead wife who turns into a vampire, and how a passing salesman (or was it a clergyman) manages to rescue him after much difficulty— I promptly kept the book aside.

And not to mention, those ‘other’ books, which had to be probably hidden away from my brother and me for the longest time…adult fiction and adult humour. With time, guards were lowered and I got my first taste of the forbidden during my later teen years.

And we’ve managed to hold onto many of those books even after all these years. Meanwhile ‘Beauty around the Clock’ like a trusted steed goes with me wherever I go.