Draavidia Arts Gallery

Changing exhibitions beside the Customs Jetty at Kalvathy.

Draavidia Arts Gallery sits beside the Customs Jetty at Kalvathy in Fort Kochi, open daily from 11am to 7pm. Its exhibitions change, and the walls hold different work from one visit to the next. The shows come from artists in Kerala and from elsewhere in India.

The gallery calls itself the first gallery of contemporary art in Kochi. Its founder, the poet T. M. Shihab, set it up as a platform for artists working in many mediums. The gallery says it has staged more than 100 shows since it opened in 1997 in Jew Town.

The gallery closed around the time of the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Shihab later gave two reasons: other galleries had come up in Kochi, and the space had neither sales nor publicity. It reopened on 11 August with a show called Kalayanam, which brought together around 40 artists. The reviewer found the gallery less welcoming to the common visitor, but credited it with putting artists first.

What the cats hear

What visitors liked

Showcases local Kerala artists and art culture.
Tanjore painting collections on display.

Did you know

Shihab said the gallery had neither sales nor publicity in its final years, and that other galleries had come up in Kochi.
Draavidia closed around the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale after about 100 shows, and reopened on 11 August with a show called Kalayanam.
Draavidia calls itself the first gallery of contemporary art in Kochi.
Draavidia Arts Gallery says it opened in 1997 in Jew Town, Kochi, founded by the poet T. M. Shihab.

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Drawn from OpenStreetMap, by its contributors.

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