KMB 225: Political Activist Yogendra Yadav Visits Biennale

KOCHI:

Political activist and writer Yogendra Yadav today visited the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), noting that he is not an art buff or critic and is also not very informed about art, but came to the Biennale because it was much-talked about in the country and felt like taking a look.

Commenting on his experience, Yadav said he was unsure whether his reading of the works was right or appropriate, but a recurring idea stood out to him. He referred to the Hindi word Kshanabhangur, explaining that kshana means a moment and bhangur means fragile, together conveying how things can dismantle in a moment and how existence itself can be momentary.

“I saw this idea reflected across several artworks at the Biennale, he noted.

On Faiza Hasan’s installation Kal at Aspinwall House, Yadav said he was reminded of the silver foam of the sea, which disappears the moment one looks again. “I saw glimpses of this same sense of momentariness in many other works.”

Reflecting on the installation by the Panjeri Artists’ Union, he said it recalled the moment of migration from Bangladesh to India during difficult years.

He also highlighted a powerful and somewhat cruel moment in the work on brick workers, referring to Birender Yadav’s Only the Earth Knows Their Labour (2025), an installation rooted in the living and working conditions of seasonal migrant workers in the brick kilns of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.

Expressing his amazement at the embroidery work on paper, Yadav said he had not imagined such a medium existed. Ratna Gupta’s embroidery on paper, in a sense, shows how people embroider their lives on paper, which is transient. “The work reflects the concept of Kshanabhangur, highlighting the fleeting nature of moments,” he added.

 Several notable personalities were also present at the Biennale, including cinematographer Jomon T. John and Gaurav Raheja, faculty member of the Department of Architecture and Planning, who explored the exhibitions and interacted with the artworks.