Capturing Slowness

In a city that is unapologetically fast-paced, slowness becomes a paradox. Diya Joseph finds it in the ladies' coach of Mumbai local trains—brief stillnesses carved from chaos.

Artist

Diya Joseph (IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand)

Medium

Watercolour on Paper

Venue

Vallabhdas Kanji Limited (VKL) Warehouse, Mattancherry, Fort Kochi, Kerala

Timings

10AM to 6PM (Mon to Sunday)

Till March 31st, 2026

About

Diya Joseph's work captures women in moments of rest and transit through her sketches. They are an archive of ordinary pauses in public spaces.

In Mumbai, a city that is unapologetically fast-paced, travelling in the ladies' coach of dheemi (slow) local trains, slowness becomes a paradox. She examines this by observing brief stillnesses that surface against the city's relentless movement—the small moments of rest that women carve between different forms of labour becomes her own pause, prompting her to sketch gestures that shift even as she watches them.

In Roorkee, Uttarakhand where Diya is studying, she finds a different rhythm altogether, one where slowness belongs naturally to the place itself. Pauses are easily visible there: in the way people walk, in unhurried routines, in quiet moments spent contemplating at the Ganga Canal. She records these fleeting impressions with immediacy, across geographies.

Her work maps the aspects of slowness and moments of rest and traces how slowness appears, shifts, and settles in places moving at different speeds.

Two cities. Two speeds. One quiet attention to the pauses we almost miss.

Kochi Biennale 2025