KOCHI: There’s a goat in the vicinity; one that looks directly at you when you inch closer to the window that’s set right in the middle of the room. No, they are not grazing, we’re at the art exhibition organised by the 2015-17 batch of MFA (Master of Fine Arts) students, department of painting, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady.
That painting of the goat, set against a fence and a lone window, is part of a series of artworks by Nandakumar M N. He has an interesting explanation for the props that accompany his work. “How would it be if the painting is looking at you than the other way round? That was what I was trying to explore,” he said. A similar work of his was selected to be presented at the Biennale as well.
A total of 19 students have exhibited their works in the exhibition and there’s space for everything here- imagination, politics and the personal. A lot of mural art have caught the artists’ imagination, but they all differ in how they perceive it. Manoj’s works displace the traditional and standard mural imageries with the marginalised people from past and present, and makes for a critique of the mural art. Except for the style and the flow of the work, he hasn’t followed the arbitrary strictures of Kerala mural art. “Why should we continue to celebrate the ‘higher caste’ or Gods through mural work and call it our rich heritage when so much from the history go unrepresented,” he says.
His mural art gives space to Dalits and becomes the voice of the voiceless. The women in his works are dusky and the colour palette is vibrant. “As is common with Kerala mural art, the protagonists in my works aren’t adorned with gold. They wear simple accessories made of stone,” he states. Arun Gopal, who also does mural art, says that even though he abides by the norms, he tries to include his variations. Satheesh P C has remolded the mural perceptions to include inscriptions of dissent. A goddess stands with multiple weapons in her many hands, amid a collage of news reports that talk about the recent attacks on women. “Mural art is never used as a medium for marking a protest, and I thought it’ll be worth it,” he says.
Arun K R has designed a political satire out of a stone-carved ink bottle with the name ‘Bharat Ink’ and a stamp of the ‘swastika’. He has brought to life the prevalence of fascist ideas and the death of writers in the country.
Renu Sounder, who won accolades for her performance in the award-winning film, ‘Manhole’, also a student of MFA, has displayed two of her works. One is a reflection of herself, a woman adept at being a multi-tasker, and the other inspired by the film, ‘Manhole’, that captures the perceptions about manual scavengers. Sarath Sasi, whose work won a prestigious award at the Students’ Biennale this year had used stop-motion technique to display the interplay of memory and being. “It’s my struggle with my memories; I cannot quite place what happened before I turned 17, and my work, part of a series, talks about that,” he said. He has used soap, a glass aquarium and water to exhibit his work, a video installation of which is present at the venue.
The students have also decided to bring out a book that talks about Kerala’s art history, a rare feat made possible by art students.