2016 | A Performance by students of Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Srinagar

23 December 2016
Aspinwall Hall, 1 hour approx performance followed by discussion

The performance was called 2016. It was about the summer of 2016, where the students started to work around a fallen Chinar tree which was stopped during the curfew. When they came back in November various developments happened in Kashmir. Read their full statement.

In the performance they used Greater Kashmir newspaper to cover a student’s body, which they painted white and wrote all over it. They also burnt Kashmiri chilli while this was going on. Poems were distributed to people along with goggles made out of paper cups with holes. The audience went to read the poems with the goggles. They were also asked to drape a Kashmiri shawl embroidered with pellets made by anotherstudent Annie Parvez. As people wore the shawl the students went up to them and shared stories from Kashmir. Some of these were narrated by Kashmiri, pointing to the fact that communication is never transparent or innocent.

The discussion that followed the performance was charged and the young students were deeply moved by the support they received from artists and lay audience alike.

FICA is very glad that we could support the trip of the Srinagar students to Kochi to participate in this two week residency that led up to the performance. With the support of Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation, we could continue what we started in 2014 (http://www.ficart.org/new-page-1).

Thank you to their teacher Showkat Katju for making this not-so-easy trip with 12 students all the way from Srinagar, to the curator Aryakrishnan Ramakrishnan for engaging with the group and KBF for making the arrangements in Kochi! To all the students thank you for your courageous performance in Kochi! We send you all our good wishes and love for a peaceful 2017!!!