The Paradesi Synagogue: 450 Years of Spice, Prayer, and Hand-Painted Tiles in Mattancherry
Chinese tiles, Ethiopian rugs, a Malayalam clock tower. What if I told you that Kochi's oldest synagogue is a world in one room?
Eight artists from Shimla explore identity through video and cyanotype—asking not who we are, but how we become and unbecome through inherited stories.
What does it mean to become yourself—when the stories of who you are were written before you were born?
Amita Kumari, Garima, Jasmeen, Katiyani, Rahul, Shyamli Nandani, Sita, and Vaishali Bhandari—all from JLN Government College of Art, Shimla.
Videos & Cyanotype

Artshila, Near Parade Ground
This beautiful Kochi Biennale Venue presented by Arthshila is part of their multi-art curations projects across India.
Address: Opposite Parade Ground, Next to entrance of Lily Street
10AM to 6PM (Monday to Sunday)
Till March 31st, 2026
Eight artists from JLN Govt. College of Art, Shimla bring this impossible question to Fort Kochi through videos and cyanotypes—an old photographic process where images emerge in deep Prussian blue, as if surfacing from water or memory.
The pairing is deliberate. Video captures movement, the constant flux of becoming. Cyanotype freezes it—seeds, flowers, gestures pressed into blue like botanical specimens of identity. Together, they hold the tension between who we are and who we're becoming.

The Students' Biennale, running alongside the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, has always been a space where tomorrow's artistic giants take their first bold leaps. This year's edition brings together young artists from art schools across India—each with stories that demand to be heard.
Join 1500+ others & Sign up for the newsletter and get our latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.