This project was done as a part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012-13, representing Srishti School of art, design and technology.
We found ourselves in a new place, with the task to represent it in our works through any medium. Our journey began with us just talking to people around Fort kochi, Mattancherry and Ernakulum; three divisons of Kochi. The first thing that captured us was the fact that there were people from all different communities living in Kochi together, with their own customs, cultures, outlooks. There were Jews, Tibetians, Syrian Christians, Catholics, Kashmiris, Indo-Portuguese. While interviewing people from different communities, we realized that food was one of the main things that still connected them to their old roots (the land and the culture where they actually belong). Also, Kochi being a port city and an exporter of spices, led into food becoming our main theme. We started to interact with people over food, and through these conversations we came up with ficitional narratives which told a story about Kochi through the eyes of a Character 'Pickle or P' who takes nuances from the conversations we had with all the lovely people there and the stories and memories they shared with us.
We used different lenses to extract parts of the conversations, adressing political views, to the idea of love, to the youth and their views, to the merchants, it was all to create an experience of Kochi from different perspectives.
The illustrations on the front of the postcards were inspired by the people that we had conversations with over food in Kochi.
Food is something that everyone relates to. Its essential for survival, it’s close to the heart and yet opens up a door way into cultures and identity. Historically the spice trade has formed the thriving cosmopolitan undercurrent to life in Kochi.Establishing food as our central pivot, we have had conversations with people from all over the city. We have knit together an experience with food, images and words that revels in its complexity rather than shying away from it.Like the cityscape of Kochi, its alive and bustles with questions, answers, contradictions, history, nostalgia, laughter and of-course the all encompassing scent of spices.
@kochi-muziris Biennale 2012-13.
The stories that emerged were taken around the city(Kochi), in the form of ‘story pickles’, displayed on a food cart. Recipes collected during our conversations, were then prepared on the cart itself so that a dialogue and exchange between traditions and heritage could emerge. As the diverse tastes and spices tantalized the taste buds, they created an entry point into cultures one may not have explored before.
current display is on at Kochi-muziris biennale Aspinwall, Fort Kochi.
@ Aspinwall, Fort Kochi.
