Art exhibition in Fort Kochi
- 29 Dec 2015
- Sebin
- Features
India & World War-I: Art exhibition in Fort KochiKochi, Dec 29: Commemorating the 100 years of World War I, Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) in association with Goethe Institut is organising an exhibition here this weekend.
The January 3-4 'digging deep, crossing far' at Pepper House in Fort Kochi will essay the details of the 1914-18 war and India's role in it, courtesy works by four noted artists: Ayisha Abraham, Gilles Aubry, Sarnath Banerjee and Surekha. Ayisha's '1991 work Boots/Pyramid' is a visual examination of her grandfather's role in the British army in WW1 through a found photograph. Gilles' sound installation is based on material from the 'Lautarchiv', sound recordings from prisoner camps in Germany. The work explores ideas of the relation between racial purity and vocal-linguistic characteristics developed in Nazi Germany. Sarnath explores the war through black-and-white drawings portraying scenes of Indian sepoys during the war. His drawings are in dialogue with short text commentaries that open up questions about the Indian experience of the war. Bangalore-based artist Surekha's image installation is also archive-based and explores the role of the 'Madras Sappers' who, among other contributions to the war, designed the Bangalore Torpedo. Internationally acclaimed Elke Falat and Julia Tieke will curate the two-day exhibition. According to the curators, though WW1 was fought mainly between European nations, the involvement of the British, French and other empires meant that soldiers and people of the colonies were actively involved in the war. Over 10 lakh Indian members of the colonial army were employed during the war, with recorded fatalities of over 60,000, they point out. The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday. Entry is free. For more information, please contact Gautam at 8547 340159
