KOCHI: Cut off from the city’s chaos, final-year painting and sculpture students of RLV College of Music and Fine Arts in Tripunithura are hosting their graduation exhibition titled ‘Izhakal (Strands)’ on the serene campus.
Though the campus is silent, students here speak loudly through their art. They have curated an incredible collection of sculptures, paintings, and installations exploring a plethora of mediums, themes, and ideas.
The main gallery of the college presents a pot-pourri of ideas. The first one that strikes us is ‘Breath’, by Divya Lakshmi. Dead bodies wrapped in sacks are strewn around, symbolising the lives of the homeless.
“They are dead to society,” she says.
On closely observing the ‘bodies’, one can see that they are ‘breathing’. They have skin made of silicone and the feeble breathing movement is replicated using a motor.
The display is quite impressive, considering that the artists are ‘students’. A large collection by Thasni M A explores the act of praying and encounters with the divine. ‘The Island’ by Anandakumar depicts a piece of land away from the mainland. It is protected by mangroves, but polluted by garbage.
The war in Gaza by Alfiya C H; self-introspections in muted oil hues with spiders as a recurring symbol by Aadith Dayanandan; an exploration of urban youth into the disappearing natural elements, architecture, and human emotions by Anjalo Loy using palm frond, terracotta, and metals; drawings and paintings on intricately woven bamboo mats by Anupama Sukumaran; and frames of a ragpicker’s cart and the memories it contains by Renjith P V are some of the notable works.
