Munnotté | Forward

Over sixty years since becoming one of the first states in the world to democratically elect a communist government, the landscape of the small southern Indian state of Kerala has changed immensely. Socialist development policies adopted successively by both communist as well as non-communist governments across the decades have enabled Kerala to consistently lead the country in the human development indexes of education and universal healthcare. However, despite extensive success in social welfare, the state’s low per capita income and lack of lucrative job opportunities have also caused disillusionment among successive generations of young people, causing millions to migrate to better paying opportunities abroad, while also resulting in simmering political unrest within the state. Kerala’s other prominent distinction of being one of the most politically aware states in the country has also meant that political parties and their governments are held to a high level of scrutiny, and street protests, general strikes and student politics are a quotidian occurrence.

Munnotté | Forward explores the complexities of socialism’s influence on Kerala through its impact on its everyday landscape. I am interested in Kerala’s strong associations to its mythical past, and in the crucial place that land holds both within the Malayali identity as well as being a site for highly visual and performative politics.