Che Guevara's granddaughter visits Kochi Biennale, says India is like Cuba to her

Kochi: The fifth edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale is attracting prominent visitors from different parts of the world. Some of the high-profile visitors at the mega art expo in the past few days included Professor Estefania Guevara, Homi K Bhabha and Smita Tharoor.

While the art presentations at the Biennale have left Estefania Guevara, the granddaughter of revolutionary socialist leader Che Guevara, wonderstruck, Bhabha, a renowned scholar, said the works at the show reflect diligent efforts to weave together lives.

"The exhibitions and venues are astonishing and exhilarating," Estefania said after visiting the exhibition on Thursday.

"Being here is the same as being in my homeland. The artworks here are just as enticing. India is like Cuba to me,” the professor said, after enjoying in detail the different artworks on display at the venues. Estefania is the daughter of Aleida Guevara, a social activist, and the daughter of Che Guevara.

“The Biennale is a very attractive and brilliant exhibition of art," opined Sarah Kirlew, Consul General, Australia. "Creations made in response against disorder are thought-provoking," said the Consul General. Shafeena Ahmed, entrepreneur, art lover, and daughter of prominent industrialist M A Yusuff Ali, also came to see the Biennale on Thursday.

Biennale depicts big issues faced by life: Homi K Bhabha
The various artworks on display at the Kochi Muziris Biennale take viewers to a completely unparalleled artistic world where they could experience a wide range of common issues affecting humanity depicted creatively in a minute execution of details, according to Bhabha, renowned scholar of postcolonial studies.

The core of the fifth edition is the reflection of the strenuous efforts to weave together everything. It’s not just the weaving of clothes, but all those efforts stitching together the various elements of day-to-day life in totality – science, technology, ethics, and so on.

“The main highlight of the Biennale is the depiction of big issues faced by life in different parts of the world in great detail. By weaving, I mean constant refinement and transformation. It doesn’t matter whether the artworks are done in chords, carpets or in decorative, symbolical, abstract forms, but each one portrays the continuity of transformative motion,” he noted.

Like in Venice, the Kochi biennale presents a rich repository of creative concepts and art engagement, taking the viewer’s experience to another level. One can witness the weaving of cultural diversity and secularism here. Also, the Kochi Biennale is not just about transition, but it’s one linking the past and the future with the present, Bhabha observed.

Smita Tharoor visits Biennale
Smita Tharoor, the first 'colour' baby model of the Amul milk powder packet advertisement and the younger sister of Shashi Tharoor MP, was at the Biennale venue on Wednesday to have a first-hand experience of the artworks on display here. A former Miss India runner-up, Smita said the displays at Biennale convey energy at various levels involving sense and response.

A famous motivational speaker and a personality/leadership development trainer, Smita Tharoor is also the founder of Tharoor Associates, a famous enterprise in the field. Her husband and famous photographer/filmmaker Seamus Murphy and son Avinash Tharoor accompanied Smita on her visit.