‘Binary States, India-UAE’, a collateral exhibition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016, on at Greenix Village, explores the relationship between the Indian and the Emirati beyond the usual, expected lines. The story of the ‘two states’ is told through a series of photographs and video installations. Some of the stories have already played out and the others such as Vikram Divecha’s ‘Veedu’ is a work in progress. Rasha Al Duwaisan’s ‘Hoisting Histories’ is an oral history installation and Ammar Al Attar’s ‘Reverse Moments’ is a photo documentation series.
Through their works, the artists document history. It is a fascinating telling, especially for those of us to whom the ‘Gulfy’ is as much a cultural phenomenon as a sociological reality. The show has been curated by Ummer Butt who is the founder and co-director of Dubai-based contemporary art gallery, Grey Noise.
In his curatorial note, Butt states, “The presentation curated here at Kochi, manifests a strong bilateral dialogue between two historic port countries, the United Arab Emirates and India. The rendition of which is highlighted in this pavilion, of what they shared in the past years and learnt from one another. A love affair that still continues and is translated in this exhibition of visuals, sounds and words.”
Which is precisely what the exhibition does. Rasha Al Duwaisan’s oral history installation is about the Indian’s Emirati interface as well as the and the Emirati’s Indian experience. An Emirati growing up in India is an uncommon entity, Rasha catalogues several of these stories of businessmen and doctors who had their education in India before returning home, often India becoming home. Dr. Ahmed Kazim, an Emirati surgeon says, “Today, now, (sic) people ask me: ‘you’re an Arab? But you look Indian?’ I say: ‘Yes, not only do I look Indian, I talk Indian, I sing Indian; my culture is Indian....My culture, up to now, is Indian...” Indians in the Emirates share the sense of kinship.
Ammar Al Attar’s take charts a different route. ‘Reverse Moments’ documents the UAE’s tryst with Indians in photography. Through Abu Dhabi-based photographer Prem Ratnam, whose archives are reproduced as a kind of documentation of his years of work. Therefore we get to see the evolution of photography over the 40-odd years of his practice in UAE.
Lastly there is Vivek Divecha’s ‘Veedu’, which represents the ultimate ‘Gulfy’ dream - a house of one’s own, the sum of all hardships and sacrifices. Vivek, through his film, will chart the fruition of the dream for a Gulf Malayali. The plan is to start from the design process, following the exchanges of ideas between the UAE-based client and the Kerala-based architects. Even Vivek’s process as he conceived the project and went about looking for subjects is fascinating.
The exhibition will run through the Biennale.
