Artist/Researcher: Shivanqi Krishna
Curation: Deeksha Gaurav H C
Shivanqi Krishna is pursuing her master’s in art history and Aesthetics from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda. Hailing from Kerala, she holds great curiosity about the Malayalam cinema industry. The developing interest in cinema and her region helped to choose her research topic, “Questioning regional class identities seen in early Malayalam cinema (1930s–1970s).”. To understand the regional identity through the lens of cinema.
Kerala was formed in 1956, yet it has had its own identities of language and culture since the 8th century CE. With the passing years, the land has gone through multiple regional and class developments, especially after the introduction of films. The history of international and early Indian cinemas plays a vital role in her research.
Shivanqi has chosen to explore regional class identities through Malayalam cinema tentatively from the 1930s to the 1970s. In her exploration of Malayalam cinema, she learned that this area is unexplored. Hence, she will now pop up her queries and analyze the scenario of the Malayali identities through the scenes of the regional cinema, which acts like a mirror of a region by showcasing the culture, tradition, and lifestyle of the society of Kerala. She will be focusing on elements such as the iconography of regional class through the cinema sets, costumes, landscapes, and architecture. Also analyzing the themes on which movies were made, such as mythology, folklore, novel-based, and theatre-based dramas. These thematic studies play a crucial role in her research. All this research was done by watching the movies and analyzing the screenshots taken. Her framework of research relies on understanding the key elements of the regional iconography, identity, and socio-political and economic factors of Kerala by keeping it open-ended.
No comments:
Post a Comment