EXHIBITION

|

LILIES IN THE GARDEN OF TOMORROW

|

KOCHI MUZIRIS BIENNALE

|

EXHIBITION | LILIES IN THE GARDEN OF TOMORROW | KOCHI MUZIRIS BIENNALE |

Lilies in the Garden of Tomorrow (2025) is a multi-layered exhibition and research project, exploring a female story of resilience amid personal and political crises in pre-independence India. Based on diaries written between 1938-1942 by my great grandmother-in-law Eliamma Matthen, a Syrian Christian from Kerala, it follows her fight against the unjust imprisonment of her husband, her struggle to obtain his release, and her efforts maintain her family, faith and community. Blending family and public archives with performative reinterpretation and documentary imagery, the project draws on a collaboration with five generations of family. It is curated by Bakul Patki and produced with Yolk Studio.

PRESS

Details

  • The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is India's largest international exhibition of contemporary art. A site-responsive, artist-led initiative, the Biennale was conceived not merely as an exhibition but as a civic project firmly rooted in the histories and everyday realities of Kochi.

    For the Time Being, the 6th edition, is an invitation to embrace process as methodology. It curated by Nikhil Chopra of HH Spaces.

    Featuring sixty-six artists and collectives from more than twenty countries, the festival encompasses multiple venues and spaces across the entire city.

    Reviews in The Guardian here, The Observer here, and the New York Times here.

  • The Sixth Edition features the first official Collaterals Programme chosen through international Open Call.

    Lilies in the Garden of Tomorrow is one of nine projects selected.

    The programme showcases a wide range of practices aligning with the key theme of the 110-day art festival.

  • Lilies in the Garden of Tomorrow (2025) is an intimate portrayal of a significant period in the history of the Syrian Christian family into which the artist married — years that were seminal to Kerala's movement for democracy and India's struggle for freedom from colonial rule.

    It highlights the unseen role of women as witnesses to injustice, as keepers of memory, and as agents of a creative resistance. Beyond this, it opens a broader conversation about how families hold history, how memory resists power, and how new futures might be imagined through acts of remembrance.

  • Arrow Mark | Nosh Haus, Mattancherry, Kochi, Kerala 682002

    Open daily 10am — 6pm

    14 December 2025 — 31 March 2026

 

In the shadow of a nation’s birth,
a woman writes through grief and fire.
Her husband taken,
her family held together by words and will.

From pages penned in quiet defiance,
a story blooms—
of memory,
of justice,
of five generations
bearing witness.

A tapestry of archive, image, and voice —
where women carry the weight of crisis
and sow the seeds of survival. 

Hcp tZi¯nsâ ]ndhnbpsS \ngenÂ,
hnjmZ¯n\pw Xo\mf§Ä¡panSbnÂ,
HcphÄ FgpXp¶p.
`À¯mhns\ ]nSn¨psImïpt]msb¦nepw
hm¡pIfpsSbpw DÄ¡cp¯nsâbpw ]n³_e¯nÂ
AhÄ Hcp IpSpw_s¯ tNÀ¯p]nSnbv¡p¶p.
\nÈÐamb {]Xntcm[¯nsâ XmfpIfn \n¶pw
Hcp IY hncnbp¶p;
kvacWbpsS,
\oXnbpsS,
A©v XeapdIfpsS
km£yw hln¡ps¶mcp IY.
kv{XoIÄ {]XnkÔnbpsS `mcwt]dn,
AXnPoh\¯nsâ hn¯pIÄ ]mIp¶
]pcmtcJIfpsSbpw Nn{X§fpsSbpw
iЧfpsSbpw Hcp Nn{XIw_fw.

—— Sarah Chandy

Reflections on the exhibition from attendees of the opening event of the exhibition at the Kochi Biennale in December 2025.

Curator Bakul Patki on how she encountered the work, the story it contains, the creation of the exhibition and the themes it addresses.

“Trouble seems to be everywhere.
We are so buffeted that we hardly know how to hope for anything so simple & direct as a straight course across the field of life.”

" F§pw {]iv\§Ä \ndªXmbn tXm¶p¶p. 
PohnXcwK¯v A{Xbpw efnXhpw t\cmbXpw t\cn«pÅXpamb Hcp ]mX 
F§s\ {]Xo£n¡Wsa¶v t]mepw Adnbm¯h®w \½f{Xbpw ]oUnXcmWv. '

“With Him and in Him I will ‘hold the fort’ till you my beloved, come back to us.”

"Fsâ {]nbt\, \o R§fpsSbSpt¯¡v aS§nhcpwhsc Aht\msSm¸w, 
Ah\n tNÀ¶p\n¶v Rm³ Cu 'tIm« Im¡pw.'

  • “one of only eight to have been chosen by a panel of national and international jurors, placing Chandy’s exhibition within a tightly curated strand of contemporary art in Kochi that prizes research, urgency and form.”

    — Art Plugged

  • “an emotive and affecting reflection on the oft-unseen role of women in crisis, as witnesses to injustice and agents of creative resistance”

    — Fad Magazine

  • “These elements embody memories that are consciously and unconsciously carried by Eliamma’s descendants today. Visitors, too, become part of this process—invited not to consume a fixed narrative, but to reflect, respond, and share their own memories and messages within the gallery space.”

    — Culturalee

  • “We all carry fragmented histories within. When we understand who we are, and why we are, we are free to imagine alternative futures and be proactive in their creation.”

    — The Hindu

“Lord give each one of us Fortitude. I read & write but I am strained.
Nothing, not even the comfort of words sinks into my soul. ”

" {]t`m, R§fntemtcmcp¯À¡pw DÄ¡cp¯v \ÂtIWta. Rm³ hmbn¡pIbpw FgpXpIbpw sN¿p¶p,
F¶m Fsâ a\ÊmsI ]ncnapdp¡¯nemWv. H¶pw Xs¶ Fsâ Bßmhnte¡v Bgv¶nd§p¶nÃ.
hm¡pIfpsS Bizmkw t]mepw.'

“The only thing is to commit the matter and go on in peace.
Perhaps such losses are allowed to come to test our faith in
a word which we profess to believe. ”

" Htcsbmcp Imcyw sNbvXm aXn þ Imcy§sfÃmta¸n¨v kam[m\ambn apt¶m«v t]mhpI. 
Hcp]s£ C¯cw \ã§sf IS¶phcm\\phZnbv¡p¶Xv \½Ä hnizkn¡p¶p F¶p ]dbp¶ 
hm¡n \ap¡v F{Xam{Xw hnizmkapsï¶v ]co£n¡m\mbncn¡pw.'

“One chapter of our life is closed,
A chapter the world ought to know more about.
The rest, and what preceded, need not be recorded.
It can die with us. ”

" \½psS PohnX¯nse Hcp A[ymbw ASªncn¡p¶p,
temIw C\nbpsamcp]mSv Adntbïnbncp¶ Hcp A[ymbw.
C\n hcm\pÅXpw apt¶ IS¶pt]mbXpw tcJs¸Spt¯ïXnÃ.
AXn\v \t½msSm¸w a®Snbmw.'