Lalithakala Akademi’s mega art exhibition begins today, Minister Rajeeve to inaugurate

Kochi: A state-level visual arts exhibition organised by the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi will begin here on Monday. State Industries and Commerce Minister P Rajeeve will inaugurate the exhibition at a function to be held at Ernakulam Durbar Hall Ground at 5 pm. At the function, Lalithakala Akademi's fellowships for 2022-23 and State Visual Arts Awards will be presented to the winners by Culture Affairs Minister Saji Cheriyan.

As many as 374 works by 271 artists will be on display at the exhibition spread over four venues. The shows will be held at Ernakulam Durbar Hall Art Centre, Fort Kochi Pepper House, Kozhikode Akademi Art Gallery and Kayamkulam Shankar Memorial National Cartoon Museum and Art Gallery. The works were selected by an eminent jury from 3,519 works by 861 artists. The show will be on till June 28, 2023.

At the inaugural ceremony, Artist Namboothiri will be honoured by Minister Saji Cheriyan. The akademi fellowships will be presented to acclaimed Malayali artists Prabhavathi Meppayil and Shibu Natesan. Prabhavathi Meppayil is based in Bengaluru while Shibu Natesan has been practising in Vadodara and London. Both have participated in many international art exhibitions.

The 51st State Visual Arts Awards will be presented to Ameen Khaleel, Prakasan K. S., Shan K. R., Sreeja Pallam and Sreenath K. S. (Painting, Sculpture, New Media, Drawing); Anu John David (Photography); and K Unnikrishnan (Cartoon).

Cultural Affairs Secretary Mini Antony IAS will release the catalogue of the exhibition at the inaugural ceremony. Kochi Mayor Anil Kumar and writer T. D. Ramakrishnan will be the chief guests. T. J. Vinod MLA and District Panchayat President Ullas Thomas will offer felicitations. Lalithakala Akademi Chairperson Murali Cheeroth will deliver the welcome address while Secretary N Balamuralikrishnan will offer vote of thanks.

In connection with the ceremony, RLV Vijayakrishnan and his troupe will perform a ‘panchari melam’ at 4 pm followed by a music programme by Shanka Tribe at 6 pm.