The Palette Of An Artist

As the first woman curator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Anita Dube creates a unique landscape of art, one that favours community over hierarchy

A recurring motif in Anita Dube’s artworks are the ceramic eyes. You see them cascading off a gallery wall or collaged together—these rivers of eyes just gazing back at you. While interpretations of each work are diverse, Dube’s intent has always been to secularise and give everybody access to these “god’s eyes”. “Why can’t every single person see divinity and beauty? Why can’t we all have a beautiful gaze?” she asks. At the heart of her life’s work lies an intense equality and inclusivity.

Early this year, she was invited to curate the fourth edition of the KochiMuziris Biennale, to be held from December 12, 2018 to March 29, 2019. Her vision for the biennale etches at the same values. It is in her choice of artists and in planning a space for open dialogue where “everyone can be an artist or a curator.” As she writes in her curatorial note, she is seeking “the warm solidarities of community.” In a conversation with Bazaar, she talks about the “orchestra” she is conducting with art.