Performance art may be quite commonplace in the West, but with a history of less than 20 years in India, we are still waking up to it. With artistes like Nikhil Chopra from Goa and Anil Deyanand from Palarivattom popularising the art, we look at three Malayali artiste who have been making a name for themselves.
SAJAN MANI
The city-based artiste has been developing his performance art through the use of the body and its actions, around a variety of themes. The 32-year-old’s work often reflects colonial legacies and gender politics—with the body positioning both as the object and the subject of social and historical narratives. For instance, for his performance at last year’s Kolkata International Performance Arts Festival, he let the audience paint his body white, while he kept repeating ‘My name is black’. “The body is a moving object, through different spaces. I can express more of my artistic imagination through my body. I believe performance can’t be a selling property; it can be only a mental property,” he says.
Ongoing project
The artiste, who participated in last year’s Vancouver Biennale is currently working on a 365-day performance—captured through his mobile phone camera.
JOHN XAVIERS
An academician by profession, artiste and curator John Xaviers draws inspiration for his performances from the Spice Route. The 36-year-old mocks the post-colonial scenario in most of his performances. For instance, his last project, KarmaLeaks, (conceptuliased by him and France-based cultural consultant Chacko Philip) took the form of an office file containing A4 sheets—an imaginary, classified dossier of letters exchanged between people like the UN Secretary General and the service chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces—in an attempt to create a fictional narrative of a military coup by the Indian military on a future date—January 26, 2050. For the performance, Xaviers dressed up as an army man and interacted with the audience.
MURALI CHEEROTH
His performances are interactive in nature and theatrical in presentation. Born in Thrissur (and currently residing in Bengaluru) Cheeroth’s work is all about green politics. “My interest in performative art began in the early ’80s, when I was a political activist,” he says, adding, “One of my most memorable performances was ATM, which I did in Daman and Diu as part of a residency programme.” During the performance, the artiste, dressed all in black, chose contemporary objects—two identical wrist watches,
one egg and a candle. He then posed questions to them and conveyed their answers to the audience. For instance, the watches were his memory-keeping ATMs—type in the password and it would create memories.
Upcoming Performance:
Cheeroth, 48, will be performing in Maharashtra, for the Matheran Green Forest Festival. His performance, titled Seeds on the left bank of the river, will revolve around the socio-political and environmental issues of rivers and their surroundings.