In the quiet after the crisis: Pallavi Paul’s Alaq at the Kochi Biennale

At the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Pallavi Paul’s Alaq unfolds as a three-channel cinematic installation.

About Alaq
- Format: A three-channel cinematic installation, running for 40 minutes.
- Tone: Rejects spectacle and sensationalism, instead asking viewers to slow down, listen, and sit with grief, memory, and care.

Themes:
- Collective vulnerability and resilience after crises.
- Intersections of medical science and spiritual belief.
- Testimonies from frontline workers, caregivers, and communities affected by recurring outbreaks (notably Nipah virus).
- Presence of the shrine of Beema Bevi, a saint figure associated with healing across religious boundaries.

Artistic Approach
- Methodology: Filmed only with consent, avoiding intrusive or aestheticized trauma.
- Visuals: Microscopic viral imagery, archival fragments, slow observational footage, and intimate portraits of care.
- Ethics: Refuses spectacle—no dramatic crescendos or exploitative close-ups.
- Goal: To show how science and faith both function as systems of hope, discipline, and responsibility in uncertain times.

Companion Works
- Anasir (2025): Collagraph prints embedding traces of images into paper through embossing and etching.
- Trousseau (2025): Medical body bags reworked with embroidery, transforming instruments of death into objects of care and ritual.

Significance
- Artist: Pallavi Paul, New Delhi-based visual artist and film scholar, known for exploring grief, loss, and political agency.
- Message: Alaq reframes contagion not as an event but as a lingering condition in bodies, landscapes, and relationships.
- Impact: Encourages patience, collective listening, and recognition of frontline workers and communities as agents of dignity and imagination.