'The Eelam Dialogues: Voices of Resistance' - Sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale

At the start of this year, between 1 and 7 January, KUNST Gallery in Mattancherry, Kerala, held a lively exhibition titled "The Eelam Dialogues: Voices of Resistance" as part of the sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. The exhibition was a week-long programme of discussions, performances, speeches showcasing Tamil visual arts, poets, novelists, political commentators and musicians.

This exhibition interrogates the Eelam Tamil experience and invites its audience to question what it means to be Tamil, how resistance manifests itself through art, and how Tamil identity can be passed on- not as trauma alone, but as resistance and identity.

Speaking on the importance of art, Dr. Meena Kandasamy declared during her address:

“When the courts fail, when the resolutions gather dust, when the international community offers nothing but "deep concern"—art remains.

Art remembers. Art refuses to let the world move on.

Why art? Why words? Why draw, why paint? Why do we dig through memory? How do we digitise what was lost? How do we hold on to the hope of a future?

Why do we clasp our dreams of home, of homeland, of heritage as if they were a talisman given to us by a long-ago lover who promised to return to our arms someday?

How do we bide our time in these hours, and years, of waiting?

How else do we keep ourselves together, except through the telling of these stories?”

This exhibition gave space to Tamil poets such Packiyanathan Ahilan, who wrote the following poem entitled "Corpse No. 182":

“One garment torn to shreds. I removed that and found another, drenched in pus. One breast was missing. Stuck to the other breast there was a small child that I could not remove. They were fused into one body. I cleaned them and noted down: Corpse No. 182”.

Reflecting on Tamil struggle, VIS Jayapalan asks: “What will last beyond the tears of a people made destitute? What remains except the dream of a blossoming liberation?”

Throughout the exhibition there was a series of conversations, listed below, delving into Tamil art and creativity.

The Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting – This session hosted the following visual artists from Eelam and the diaspora: Ilavenil Vasuky Jayapalan, T. Vinoja, T. Krishnapriya, K. Thabendran, Sindu Sivayogam, and Brintha Koneshachandra. It explored the evolving visual terrains of Eelam imaginaries—from printing press archives to experimental film.

Our Songs are Warriors in Camouflage – Exploring poetry from Eelam battlefields and other contested territories, this session featured Gowri Koneswaran, Enbah Nilah, VIS Jayapalan, and P. Ahilan.

Drumbeats of Rebellion – Lead by an opening lecture by Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, entitled “Sensory Reclamation: On Being Eelam Tamil”, this session explored Tamil music across genres—folk, percussion, rap—from Bhi Bhiman, Sollisai Podiyan, Arivu, and others.

Read Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan's exerpts of her address here: Sensory Reclamation: On Being Eelam Tamil

Fracturing: Writing the Politics of Separation and Exile – This event hosted a discussion between Dr. Meena Kandasamy, Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan and TU Senan, founder of Tamil Solidarity, on threads that shape the new contours of a Tamil nation. The session considered how geographical context—Eelam, Tamil Nadu, the diaspora—influence our collective crafting of counter-narratives?

The Last Refuge: Theatre in Eelam – A conversation between D'Lo, Professor Sithamparanathan, and Rani Moorthy examining how resistance is performed through the body. Considering theatre as mobilising tool and as testimony.

Finding Truth Through Fiction – A conversation between Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, and novelist Anuk Arudpragasam exploring the capacities and constraints of fiction to archive stories of violence.

In concluding her address, Dr. Kandasamy addresses why they had gathered for this exhibition, stating:

“Because this is how we survive.

Because the dead demand it of us.

Because 95,000 books were burned in Jaffna, and we must write 95,000 more.

Because they killed our journalists, and so we must all become witnesses.

Because they want us to forget, and we refuse.

Because we are Tamil. And to be Tamil is to resist.”

Full videos of each event are to be published online.