Untitled

One of the youngest artists to exhibit at the Biennale and a recent graduate of the Government College of Fine Arts in Thrissur, Kerala, Unnikrishnan was born into a family traditionally engaged in basket weaving in Pezhumpara in rural Kerala. His art draws heavily from his surroundings, especially the imagery he encountered at home. “There was a lot of superstition and fear around when I was growing up. One of my aunts is an oracle. As a child, I was often told terrifying stories about spirits. All of these unconsciously appear in my work,” he says.

It was due to the encouragement of his high school art teacher Sushma Devi that Unnikrishnan took up art education. While an art student, he started painting the terracotta bricks on the walls of his home, creating one painting a day as if making entries in a visual diary. The first image he painted was that of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, an artist he identifies closely with; drawing from the blend of autobiography and magical realism in her works.

Many of the early images Unnikrishnan painted appear in his untitled installation (2014), a freestanding wall composed of more than 300 bricks. They reveal the artist’s urge to archive objects and ways of living that face extinction in an invisible wave of crises unleashed in rural Kerala by the collapse of traditional economies centred on activities such as weaving; abruptly rendering useless once-valued skills and implements. The installation also presents a chorus of imagery, including relief sculptures, inspired by the artist’s interactions with Kochi during a three-month stint in the city leading to the work’s creation. Textual fragments in Malayalam culled from books or overheard on the streets also appear amidst the images.