“Urban Myths”, an art installation by C.S. Nourin of Kochi at the Students’ Biennale, is winning praise for recreating mythologies from her homeland.
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A final year student in Master of Photography Designing at the National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Nourin takes a look at the historical, mystical and mythical background of legends such as Kappiri Muthappan, Namia Mootha, and Kunji Marakkar who have attained cult-like status in local folklore.
The legend of Kappiri Muthappan has its origins in the oral narratives of slaves, locally known as Kappiris, brought to the shores of Kochi from East Africa by the Portuguese centuries ago. Myth has it that Kappiris were buried alongside treasures at various places by the Portuguese after they were forced to flee by the arrival of the Dutch in the 17th century.
The claims of having experienced the presence of Kappiri Muthappan are pretty common in Kochi. Many people worship Muthappan seeking good fortune and to gain relief from diseases. Namia Mootha, or Nehemiah ben Abraham Mota, was a poet and Kabbalist mystic who lived among the Jews in Kochi. Believed to have been born sometime in the 1570s in Yemen, Nehemiah died in Kochi in 1615. The grave of Namia Mootha at Malabari Jews cemetery at Kadavumbhagam, Mattancherry, attracts people cutting across religious and caste lines. Kunji Marakkar or Shahid Kunji Marakkar attained martyrdom by waging war against the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Urban Myths is a video installation involving photographs and charcoal animation. Nourin has another art creation on display named ‘Brass Baja’. It details a probe into the tradition of playing and using the musical instrument brass during the wedding season in Ahmedabad. It is the farmers from Amravati in Maharashtra who play the brass band during the wedding season in Ahmedabad that lasts from December to April. Through a special display of photographs, this formation of a unique society, that leads parallel lives as farmers for six months and as band players for the rest of the year, is being presented at the Students’ Biennale by Nourin. Both presentations are at KVN Arcade in Mattancherry, according to a release from organisers of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.