Exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram highlights conversations on social issues

Time of India

a day ago

The works of 13 artists are on display at an exhibition titled Karu, which addresses pressing social issues. Thumbi, the curator of the exhibition, shares that the unique title was originally intended for a magazine.
'We hoped to address more issues and ideas through the magazine. And then, we came across Sree Narayana Guru's Atmopadesha Satakam, and in it was the word Karu. We looked it up in a dictionary and found that it means nucleus, core, and also has other interesting meanings like black, hard, something valuable, a type of drum, etc. All of these meanings connect with the works in the show,' she states.
Speaking about the artists participating in the exhibition, she says, 'The artists are people we met during our journey with the art collective Untitled Kitchen.
Some of these works were specifically made for the magazine while others are contributions from their existing body of work. For example, Mrudula's poem Postmortem Report, which addressed the suicide of Sidharthan JS, a veterinary university student, allegedly due to ragging.
It wasn't published, but after I discussed the idea behind the exhibition, she suggested this work.'
One of the featured artists is Devu Nenmara, a labourer who started painting with materials given to her by her son, artist Unnikrishnan, during the COVID lockdown. 'When we included Devu Amma's work, the idea was to reflect on who gets to be called an artist and what qualifies as an artistic practice. Devu Amma painted what she saw growing up — the colours she is familiar with, her memories. Even at her age, she is documenting her world, and that act is what we love to consider as artistic practice.
The by-product could be anything — even something an ordinary person may not find visually pleasing — but the act of returning to the work can be considered art,' Thumbi explains.