Kochi Biennale: Artist paints lockdown of 365 days on paper

Kochi, Dec 30
Vasudevan Akkitham had no choice left than to restrict his artistic thoughts to the four walls of his house when everything was forced to shut down to curtail the fast spreading Covid-19.

With the limited resources, he sat down at his dining table and painted a journal of 365 days lockdown.

And now that has become the cynosure of all eyes when he showcased it at the ongoing 10th edition of the Kochi Biennale titled as, 'An Almanac of a Lost Year'.

"During the lockdown, I decided to explore the domestic space and work with a medium which is easy to deal with and has a certain degree of fluidity. As I began to work on it with small papers and watercolour, a disconnect with the world outside happened inside me. So, I created a new world which was sometimes sad, bizarre and at times optimistic," said Akkitham, who is also a teacher.

The 64-year-old artist from Palakkad, who resides in Baroda, reflects upon different nuances of life in the 365-small format work.

The large installation is almost a world in itself where there are fantasies, thoughts, imagination and it also deals with many political issues.

"My father passed away around the same time and it was difficult for me to reach Kerala but somehow I managed. On that day, I did a little drawing on my father's funeral. I don't really want to point them out to any particular incident. There are many connections with the things which happened in the world around me," said the artist.

In parallel to 'An Almanac of a Lost Year', Vasudevan also showcases Distance, a triptych work that features three paintings titled 'Departure, Journey and Arrival'.

"It's autobiographical. It is about how our mental makeup is framed during childhood and how we carry it till our death in different ways. It is also about how we move from our roots and migrate to different places for survival," he added.