Students' Biennale 2021: Life of Slums

Installation by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan Pal. Curated by Suresh K Nair

By Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Life of Slums Life of Slums (alternative view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

Life of Slums

Four students from Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, address the innumerable lives that are devoid of the basic necessity – home. In a country boasting a record number of billionaires, there are millions whose concern at the end of day is a place to sleep the night.

Life of Slums Life of Slums (alternative view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

The lockdown heightened the state of misery for those living without homes, as every city witnessed huge numbers of migrant labourers turning jobless and eventually homeless.

Life of Slums Life of Slums (night view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

While many returned to their homelands, a significant fraction could not afford even that.

Life of Slums Life of Slums (alternative view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

They sought refuge inside large concrete pipes, which look quite similar to the installation the artist collective have created.

Life of Slums Life of Slums (alternative view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

These pipes are dumped across urban landscapes to replace the old sewage lines.

Life of Slums Life of Slums (alternative view) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

Inside these 4-feet rings of indifferent concrete..

Life of Slums Life of Slums (detail) by Anit Kumar, Moh. Nawazish, Moh. Amaan, Pawan PalKochi-Muziris Biennale

..they spend nights of uncertainty, unsure if the same pipe would be available the next night.

Life of SlumsKochi-Muziris Biennale

The Students’ Biennale seeks to complement and strengthen the fine arts education system in India and is the largest educational initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation. The fourth edition was led by a team of five artists and art educators – Adip Dutta, Archana Hande, Manoj Vyloor, Suresh K Nair and Vasudha Thozhur, and featured 314 student artists from over 62 education institutions across India to produce approximately 45 projects.

Credits: Story

Compiled and Edited by Mala Yamey

https://www.sureshknair.com/about

Credits: All media

The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Interested in Travel?

Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly

No, thanks

You are all set!

Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.