Aazhi Archives

Co-founded by Riyas Komu, Aazhi Archives (AA) is a collective of artists, curators, writers, critics and scholars. The collective has organised shows and workshops that probe the cosmopolitan histories and maritime pasts of the Kochi region. These engagements involve interactions between historians and artists who delve into the tangled histories, residual presents and potential futures of the subcontinent with specific interest in Kerala and the Indian Ocean region. With the mission Art+Knowledge+People, AA links academic research with contemporary art practice, to develop art projects and knowledge missions that connect with people. The project considers people as the centre, as repositories and protagonists of history, as well as destinations and custodians of knowledge that is produced in the process.

Riyas Komu \ Artistic Director

Riyas Komu is an artist and curator who has exhibited his works worldwide, including at the Venice Biennale. His works – paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs and installations – dwell on a range of subjects that include war, migration, civilisational memories, displacement, violence, betrayal, history, conflict, peace, football and the Indian Constitution.

Komu is the ideator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and co-founder of the Kochi Biennale Foundation. He co-curated the first edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012 and subsequently developed the biennale into a multidisciplinary educational project as the Director of Programmes. He co-curated the first International Football Film Festival in India at the Goa International Film Festival and Trivandrum International Film Festival in 2012.

Komu’s critically acclaimed solo projects include ‘Faith Accompli’ (2005), ‘Related List’ (2008) and ‘Holy Shiver’ (2018) which celebrated the art in the Constitution. In 2019, Komu curated the Kondotty Sufi Festival. He is the co-founder of URU Art Harbour, a cultural hub in Mattancherry, Kochi, which promotes artists from the region focused on local culture and maritime history. In 2022, he co-founded Aazhi Archives with a group of academics and scholars which puts the spotlight on Art+Knowledge+People.

Dr. CS Venkiteswaran \ Curatorial Advisor

Dr. CS Venkiteswaran is a film critic, documentary filmmaker, curator and translator based in Kerala. He writes in English and Malayalam and his articles on films and media have been published in various journals and magazines. He has also published several books on cinema, television and new media. He has functioned as jury and curated festivals for major film festivals.

Prof. M.H. Ilias \ Curatorial Advisor

Prof. M.H. Ilias teaches at Mahatma Gandhi University. Prior to joining Mahatma Gandhi University, he served as Professor at the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies, Southern Denmark University, and as Director at both the India-Arab Cultural Centre and the Centre for the Studies of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He completed his doctoral research in International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His research interests include the Arab diaspora in South Asia, non-European mathematical traditions in the Indian Ocean region, South Asian migration to the Gulf, Islam in South Asia, and Jewish communities in South India. His recent publications include Research in the Islamic Context: Political and Methodological Reflections from South Asia, the Arab World, and the Indian Ocean, Arabi-Malayalam: Linguistic-Cultural Traditions of Mappila Muslims of Kerala, Society and Change in the Contemporary Gulf, Contesting Genealogies of Divinity: Arab versus Persian Sufism in Malabar, and Space, Memory, and Jewish National Identity. Prof. Ilias has been awarded several prestigious fellowships, including the Ford Foundation Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research (2007) at Oxford University, a Postdoctoral Visiting Research Fellowship (2008) at the Centre for Modern Orient, Berlin, and the SUSI Visiting Fellowship (2019) at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Amrith Lal \ Curatorial Advisor

Amrith Lal is a senior journalist and commentator who writes mostly on the interface of politics, society, and culture in contemporary India in English and Malayalam. He has worked in various capacities in major national dailies. His columns often examine the fault lines of Indian democracy, secularism, and social transformation, foregrounding how power, memory, and cultural narratives shape everyday life. Over the years, he has contributed significantly to shaping editorial perspectives on governance, identity, and rights, often bridging political analysis with cultural reflection. His writing is marked by clarity, historical awareness, and a sensitivity to language and meaning. He has published three collections of essays. 

Anuj Daga \ Curatorial Assistant

Anuj Daga is an architect, writer and curator based in Mumbai. Trained as an architect from Mumbai (2008), he went on to pursue his interests in History & Theory of Architecture at Yale School of Architecture, Yale University (2014). His practice is informed by diverse engagements in fields of design, research and academia that have resulted into numerous roles as writer, critic, commentator, theorist or interlocutor in the cultural field. He has been the Curatorial Assistant for the visual arts project "Young Subcontinent" since first organized by Serendipity Arts Foundation in Goa in 2016 until 2018 as well as 'When is Space? Conversations in Contemporary Architecture' commissioned by the Jawahar Kala Kendra (2018). He was the co-curator of the online festival of Video Art by Indian Contemporary Artists (VAICA) during 2021. More recently, he curated the exhibition 'The Waiting Room' for the ICAS13 Conference in Surabaya, Indonesia as a part of the research initiative 'Youth on the Move' that looks at knowledge production across the Asia-Africa axis. He has keen interest in studying the processes of visual culture and meaning-making in the contemporary built environment in South Asia. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the School of Environment & Architecture, Mumbai.

Ishara Art Foundation

Ishara Art Foundation was founded in 2019 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to presenting contemporary art of South Asia. Located in Dubai, the Foundation supports emerging and established practices that advance critical dialogue and explore global interconnections.

Guided by a research-led approach, Ishara realises its mission through exhibitions, onsite and online programmes, education initiatives and collaborations in the UAE and internationally. The Foundation facilitates exchange between South Asian and international artistic networks that include museums, foundations, institutions, galleries and individuals.

The Ishara logo, a synthesis of a square and circle, is based on an ideogram by Zarina to convey the word آﺳﻣﺎن (‘Aasman’), sky. It forms one of 36 images from ‘Home is a Foreign Place’ (1999), a work in the collection of Ishara’s Founder and Chairperson, Smita Prabhakar. Ishara signifies a gesture, a signal or a hint, and is a word common to several languages including Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Bengali, Swahili and Urdu.

Ishara Art Foundation is presented in partnership with Alserkal. www.ishara.org

Aazhi Archives

Co-founded by Riyas Komu, Aazhi Archives (AA) is a collective of artists, curators, writers, critics and scholars. The collective has organised shows and workshops that probe the cosmopolitan histories and maritime pasts of the Kochi region. These engagements involve interactions between historians and artists who delve into the tangled histories, residual presents and potential futures of the subcontinent with specific interest in Kerala and the Indian Ocean region. With the mission Art+Knowledge+People, AA links academic research with contemporary art practice, to develop art projects and knowledge missions that connect with people. The project considers people as the centre, as repositories and protagonists of history, as well as destinations and custodians of knowledge that is produced in the process.

https://aazhiarchives.org/