Kerala’s architectural tradition through centuries at Tagore theatre as part of Keraleeyam

A journey that takes one through the history of Kerala’s unique carpentry and architecture to the present day is the ‘Kerala Traditional Historical and Colonial Architecture’ photography exhibition organised at the Tagore Theatre on the theme of ‘Nammalengane Nammalayi’ as a part of Keraleeyam. The exhibition unveils the majesty and importance of Kerala’s architectural and design ingenuity, which is often overlooked. The exhibition evokes the scientificity of Kerala’s unique carpentry and architecture. In the exhibition, the structures including the thousand-year-old Kerala’s unique carpentry-focused houses and places of worship, the colonial variants and the later continuations have all been captured on camera by photographer AJ Joji through decades of painstaking effort. 140 historical images selected from thousands of photographs.

Kochi Biennale Foundation President Bose Krishnamachari is the curator of the exhibition. Boss Krishnamachari said the necessity of emphasising the importance of architecture and design is very much there and that awareness had led to such a project in Keraleeyam. The exhibition presents the ways in which Kerala has come through in carpentry and architecture in its entirety. We can see the advantages and disadvantages of Kerala’s unique architecture and the adopted ones. The tribal communities of the lands and the architectural diversity of all the social groups from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram will be displayed on the exhibition, which will impart traditional, anthropological and historical awareness. These photographs can lead to new interpretations. The exhibition is curated in a way that encompasses the true essence of the exhibition wholly.