“More Automobiles Than Are Parkable” is an upcoming exhibition of photographs by Nihaal Faizal. It is being held at David Hall, Fort Cochin from 15th – 27th October. The gallery timings are 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. and the gallery is closed on Mondays.
The exhibition showcases a collection of photographs of political posters in and around Cochin, where the artist resides. The posters aim to show the state of affairs of our society, our culture and our politics with a subtle irony which at the same time provokes and amuses the viewer.
Politics has always been a major part of the life of people in Kerala which was even the first state in the world to elect a Communist party through universal adult suffrage. With this exhibition Nihaal Faizal raises questions for himself as well as for the viewers about our beliefs and our ideologies.
The artist began taking an interest in the posters and what they represented after nature and man had played a part in its decay, almost two years ago. Since then he’s been capturing them on his camera and has searched for instances when the picture that has been arbitrarily abused by man and nature coincides with matters of contemporary relevance and interest.
The exhibition will be the artist’s second. The title ‘More Automobiles Than Are Parkable’ alludes to a state of over population and the resultant clash of interests. The artist’s first exhibition was titled ‘Freedom Road’ and brought to attention the contradictions eroding the social and civic fibre of our society and the search for personal freedom from these overwhelming contradictions.
Tanya Abraham ends her review of ‘Freedom Road’ for Art & Deal magazine with the following line -“Somewhere there is the lurking need for a sense of freedom that the viewer can guess through these photographs, which very possibly can be that of the artist himself or that of the viewer who is unaware of the freedom road, which the artist urges to tread.”
