Kochi Muziris Biennale’s Island Mural Project brings art to Kochi’s streets
As part of this initiative, different artists and collectives will paint and transform public walls around the city
Munir Kabani against the backdrop of his mural on Arthshila wall, Fort Kochi Considered ‘people’s biennale’ since its very first edition in 2012, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) involves people at every level — from volunteers, many of whom are students from across the region, to residents of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, where most of its venues are located.
While posters across the port city invite visitors into exhibition spaces, one doesn’t really need to step indoors to be surrounded by art. The streets themselves tell stories, animated by graffiti and murals, including the Island Mural Project, which operates under the aegis of the biennale. As part of this initiative, during the three months of the art event, different artists and collectives will paint and transform public walls around the city.
The Trespassers’ mural at Cube Art Spaces, Bazaar Road, Mattancherry
The first set of works has been created by Aravani Art Project, Trespassers, and artists Osheen Siva and Munir Kabani. In February, interdisciplinary artist Pradip Das will begin work on the Simi Warehouse wall in Mattancherry. In a release, the Kochi Biennale Foundation stated, “The Island Mural Project, rooted in the Biennale’s engagement with place, invites everyone to see the neighbourhood in a new light. Artists in this project have created works that speak directly to the histories, textures and living communities of the neighbourhood.”
So right outside the galleries that showcase late artist Vivan Sundaram’s last work, at Cube Art Spaces on Bazaar Road, Trespassers, comprising eight artists — Vishnupriyan K, Ambadi Kannan, Jinil Manikandan, Bashar UK, Sreerag P, Arjun Gopi, Jatin Shaji and Pranav Prabhakaran — has painted an imposing mural with scenes from everyday life coming together with fantastical imagery. From a young girl balancing her steps on a ropeway to toiling workers, flying cows and monkeys perched on balcony railings. “This is an evolution of our BFA art practice in Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, when each bettered the other’s work with a touch, a line, a stroke and even images or ideas… We accumulate visual memory from our surroundings and enrich the visual memory of others through art. Trespassing is layered; about who is in and out; outsiders are trespassers to those in. In a way, viewers trespass into the work, which sometimes gets etched into their memory,” said Vishnupriyan K.
Members of Arvani Art Project
Some distance away, at the Arthshila wall in Fort Kochi, Munir Kabani is emphasising the need to spread warmth and positivity. His work has the words ‘Love’ in English and Malayalam. “Since 2010, with a project, FlyEye and EyePod, I have been attempting to create sites for shared environments to make the poetics of contemporary art accessible. The Wall of Love is a subtle invitation to view the simple yet charged words from afar and intimately and see its meanings transform,” states the artist.
After receiving accolades at the 2024 Venice Biennale, Aravani Art Project, which comprises transgender and cis-individuals, is also sharing stories in Kochi. Their artwork at the Government Women and Children’s Hospital on Bazaar Road in Mattancherry mirrors life through a language of resistance and belonging that draws from the city.
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