Constructing Publics: Visual Arts in Post-Independence Kerala

Abstract

The prevailing scholarship on visual arts in India creates a binary between the publics of modern art in institutions and non-institutional spaces, leaving the interrelationship between the two unexplored. It suggests that art in institutions primarily serves the elites, while non-institutional art promotes a democratic public sphere characterized by accessibility and inclusivity for the common people. In this context, by interrogating the dominant narrative, this dissertation explores the relationship between publics of visual arts in modern institutional and non-institutional spaces in post-independence Kerala.