Works on show in ‘Idam’ at Darbar Art Gallery | photo credit: Tulsi Kakkat
A curious net of delicate objects hangs in the air. Upon closer inspection, one sees that they are glued to the false wall of the gallery with thin, almost invisible needles. Abdullah Pa’s surprisingly delicate installation is born out of his passion for collecting random objects. On show at Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Idam, one of the venues of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, the work is attracting attention.
This is Abdullah’s first KMB showcase. The 26-year-old Bachelor of Fine Arts student from Thrissur says he was always collecting random objects that caught his fancy at scrap yards and elsewhere. During the months of lockdown, he went to the seashore, just three kilometers from his home in Kapamangalam, where he found a treasure trove of objects washed up on the shore – sea shells, twigs, leaves, oddly shaped seed pods, leaves, woody tendrils and other things.
Fascinated by their shape, size, color and texture, he began collecting them, until they organically evolved into a collection of natural objects. “These are things we all saw and played with as kids. Things we might completely overlook in their natural environment, but putting them together in a gallery space increases their value,” he says.
Abdullah’s artistic preoccupation with material objects is evident in another of his works, The Family Tree Trunk – 14 old metal trunks stacked one on top of the other. While some of them belonged to her grandparents, others were collected from friends and neighbors. “These trunks were like mobile phones of the past. It was a very personal space, containing a person’s intimate belongings, memories, experiences.
Idam is an exclusive show for Malayalam artistes, curated by GG Scaria, Radha Gomathi and PS Jalaja. Showcasing over 200 paintings, installations, digital art and sculptures, the show captures the soul of contemporary art in Kerala today.
From meditations on human existence to our complex relationship with materials, the works span a vast canvas of possibilities. Nishad Umar’s series of photographs depicts one man’s journey through cancer – the physical changes, the painkiller-induced delirium. The man died in 2019 and the photographic installation is a visual chronicle of the days leading up to his death.
While Ashwati Prakash’s “female gaze” engages with her surroundings, Sara Hussain’s larger works are studies of the female body. She portrays a nude woman confined to a domestic space, going about her daily chores. For Sarah, it’s an attempt to rethink her ambivalent relationship with her body.
idam Durbar Hall Art Gallery is on till April.