KOCHI: On at Gallery D of Durbar Hall is an art show titled 'Time Devoured' featuring the work of 18 artists from various art institutions. The exhibition, which started on June 5, features paintings, sculptures and installation art as a meditation on the human condition.
A number of the works use history as a prism through which to view the contemporary world, as a reflection on how the past informs the present. 'Missing Frames', a sculpture by Hochimin P H, is a case in point. Its image of a man with a pot of coal on his head, symbolises the role of fossil fuels in driving human progress. Curiously, it could also be seen as a comment on how the progress of the world was fuelled by widespread slave labour, as coal mines were notorious for their shabby working conditions.
Perhaps a telling comment on present-day society in Kerala is an installation by Vinu V V. A number of plastic paintbuckets with rugs folded into them are pinned against a polythene wrap on a wall, all of these props serving as ubiquitous symbols of migrant labourers in the state. According to the artist, "People in Kerala tend to look upon migrant labourers as unwelcome guests, and the bucket and rugs are their only possessions. Occasionally, you find a headphone hanging out of these buckets. In one of them, you also see a picture of Ambedkar, who remained a distant figure for most Keralites until the past few decades or so."
The exhibition will conclude on June 11.