ABC Art Room to Conduct Workshops on Photography

KOCHI:
The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) will organise an array of interesting workshops ranging from photography to rice hay weaving and terracotta & wheel pottery as part of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025 from Friday (January 16).

These Art Room workshops will be conducted under the aegis of Art By Children (ABC), which are designed to enliven the interest of participants and also those visiting the Biennale.

A three-day photography workshop under People’s Photographers Collective based in Tamil Nadu, dedicated to empowering marginalised communities through visual storytelling, will be held from 10 am to 5 pm in ABC Art Room, Bastion Bungalow, Fort Kochi.

Founded by photojournalist Palani Kumar, the collective believes that storytelling is an act of resistance, dignity, and self-representation. It introduces participants to photography as a tool to document their own lives, communities, and cultures.

The workshop will end with an exhibition on the final day. Entry is free. Participants are expected to attend all three days of the intensive workshop. Food and accommodation will not be provided.

Another three-day workshop, Terracotta and Wheel Pottery facilitated by Jayan VK, will be held from 10.30 am to 4 pm in ABC Art Room, Water Metro Station, Fort Kochi. Jayan is a master terracotta artist with over 35-year experience in traditional and contemporary clay practices.

The hands-on pottery and clay sculpture workshop offers an immersive introduction to wheel pottery and clay sculpture, guiding participants through the complete process—from shaping clay by hand and on the wheel to the baking/firing process at ABC Art Room. Participants will learn through demonstration, guided practice, and individual support.

The third workshop, a two-day ‘Kacchi Sangam: Weaving with Rice Hay’, is facilitated by Tinu Verghis. It will be in ABC Art Room Water Metro Station from 10 to 4 pm. It is about engaging deeply with rice hay, becoming ecologically aware and attentive.

Rice hay—an agricultural residue often burned or discarded after harvest—is re-encountered here as a living material carrying memory, labour, sustenance, and care. Drawing on the facilitator’s lived experience as a rice farmer and an artist working with land- based practices, the workshop provides a space to slow down, listen to the material, and learn through embodied engagement.

The art of twining will be demonstrated through a simple, accessible, and meditative technique which is based on individual gestures that accumulate into a shared form. On the final day, Tinu Verghis and artist-facilitator Satish Pauludas will give a joint talk from 4 pm to 5 pm.

It is open to children aged 12 years and above and walk-in participants.