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New Indian Express

'Art of no war': How Kerala artists are using their works as a call for peace

Curator Esaulov says the exhibition is 'a chorus of voices saying 'enough.' These artists come from different backgrounds, but they share a commitment to using creativity as a force against destruction.' Pushkin's works, part of his series 'Being Humane Is Modernity. Nothing Else', is in solidarity with the people of Palestine. His artistic statement opens with a stark quote from American writer Susan Sontag: 'War tears, rends. War rips open, eviscerates, war scorches. War dismembers. War ruins.' Yet amid the darkness, Pushkin incorporates botanical motifs, hinting at the potential for healing. 'War is one of the most profitable industries on this planet,' he says. 'Its buyers are the 'powers of nations,' and the result is the suffering of those who simply wish to live in peace.' Jalaja P S's 'Floating Space' offers a poetic reflection on resilience. 'We are like tiny boats, overloaded with the wreckage of wars, floating on turbulent waters,' she writes. 'But we continue to move forward, carrying fragments of what was lost.' At the centre of each of her works are Ambedkar, Sree Narayana Guru and Mahatma Gandhi. They are on a boat, sitting at the centre, people on either side rowing in opposite directions. In a more meditative tone, Shinod Akkaparambil's watercolour series 'Between Scars and Stars: A Journey Through Conflict and Hope' captures the dual nature of human experience — trauma and hope, despair and renewal. His abstract forms evoke emotional landscapes. Johns Mathew takes a critical look at the machinery behind the brutal battles with his digital artwork titled 'War'. 'War happens not because people hate each other — but because someone profits from it,' he writes. 'My work is a mirror held up to those motives.'