In a cool corner of the VA Gallery on Chamars Road, a group of women bends to a desk, admire the pictures. The artist, Kannur -based Vidhya Chandran, looks a little overwhelmed by carefully. “My main medium is clothes … These just practice sketches,” she says, signing her name with her brush. At one time, his batchmates were torn into the incentive, insisting that the works should be implicated and valuable.
It is a feeling of camardari and creative perseverance that defines a group show an Artful Reunion by the 1987 Fine Arts Batch from Steel Maris College. Nearly four decades after graduation, 18 of them have returned to the gallery, not only with pictures, but also with crochet, original, photography, ceramic and fabric art, showing how their practice has developed over time.
Organizers Mala Chinnappa, Varun Arvind, and Rangashree Srinivas | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“We have always been in touch, thanks to WhatsApp. The show has come together very systematically. We are still doing some forms of art even after all these years, and for a show it was a clear option to bring all this together,” Rangshree Srinivas, “Rangshree Srinivas, who organized the show with two batchmates garlands, Chinapappa, Art Facilitator, and Sinder and Sinder.
The result is a showcase that looks less like a formal exhibition and is more like paint, fabric and reunion in form. Rangashree says, “There is no overrouud theme for the exhibition, because each of us has different forces, and we wanted everyone to show what they do.”
Performance on performance has delicate origami sculptures, textured crochet pieces, collages, watercolor, ceramic, photos and paintings in a variety of styles. Some actors have been perfect for their chosen medium for decades, such as the award -winning original Kalyani Valleti and Philadelphia -based Waterkallist Radhika Srinivas, while continuing experiments in other forms.
Painting on performance in an artistic reunion. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The mixture makes for a viewing experience that is generous yet is deeply individual, with each task the seal of a life and live with art. The current Vice Principal of Stela Maris College, Margaret Thomas, who works with a pen on the canvas, says, “When we joined the course, it was because we were interested in all the arts. It has kept us together for years.” The Mala shows the spirit, “We were all in this because we appreciated the arts. It was not just a degree that we had chosen to keep us busy until something better came.”
Over the years, the group has not only kept in touch and encouraged each other, but also traveled together for art-Kochi-Muziris visited Bienle, holding the retreat in Kodi and Konur, and informally shown to each other’s showcases.
Artist Thota Tharani in the showcase | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When his former professor, art historian and curator Ashrafi Bhagat, were dropped by gallery, he was in a hurry to encourage the initiative. For the ’87 batch, his presence was a reminder where all this started, this return to the gallery is not only in the reunion of friends, but a re -confirmation of role art continues to play in his life.
August 16 to August 23, from 11 am to 7 pm, VA Gallery, Chamiers Road will have an artistic reunion.
Published – August 18, 2025 04:53 pm IST
