Draft:Bare Bhaskaran
Indian visual artist and writer
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Bare Bhaskaran (born 1967) is an Indian visual artist, illustrator, and writer based in Kochi, Kerala. His work addresses social history, labour movements, and cultural memory in South India, developed primarily through drawing and painting, and informed by sustained engagement with archival material and long-form visual research. Active since the early 1990s, he has exhibited nationally and internationally, including participation in the Kochi–Muziris Biennale and exhibitions at institutions such as the National Museum, New Delhi.[1]
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Comment: All the claims in the draft need to have reliable sources added as citations. Netherzone (talk) 15:27, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
Bhaskaran has served as the chief illustrator of The Week magazine. Several of his illustrations originally created for columns in the magazine were later incorporated into large-scale works exhibited at the Kochi–Muziris Biennale.[2][3][4]
Early life and background
Bare Bhaskaran was born in 1967 in Bara village, Kasaragod district, North Kerala, India. He began exhibiting professionally in the early 1990s and held a solo exhibition titled Childhood Friend at the National Lalit Kala Akademi Gallery, New Delhi in 1994. He currently lives and works in Kochi, Kerala.
Artistic practice
Bhaskaran’s artistic practice focuses on documenting marginal histories, collective memory, and socio-political change in Kerala and South India. His work frequently engages with themes of labour, resistance, colonial legacies, and everyday cultural life.
A distinctive feature of his practice is the transformation of editorial illustrations into large composite installations. Many drawings originally produced for The Week magazine were later expanded into the Amazing Museum series exhibited at the Kochi–Muziris Biennale.[5]
He primarily works with watercolor, ink, pencil, and acrylic on paper and canvas.
Major bodies of work include the Amazing Museum series; the Colonial Kingdom series addressing colonial narratives; and the Muziris series developed in relation to the Kochi–Muziris Biennale.
Career and exhibitions
Bhaskaran has participated in numerous group and curated exhibitions in India and abroad. Selected exhibitions include:
- Everything (2008), Westerhuis, Amsterdam
- Relative Visa (2009), Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
- Lalita Kala Akademi Group Exhibition (2011), Durbar Hall, Kochi
- CIMA Gallery exhibitions (2013–2014), Kolkata
- Pattanam Excavation Show (2015), National Museum, New Delhi
- Kochi–Muziris Biennale – Forming in the Pupil of the Eye (2016–2017)[6]
- Lokame Tharavadu – The World Is One Family (2021), Kochi Biennale Foundation
- Nammalengane Nammalayi – Contextual Cosmologies (2023), Thiruvananthapuram
Publications
Bhaskaran has authored and illustrated several books in Malayalam and English, including:
- Ente Keralam Rekhakal — illustrated visual travelogue on Kerala’s social and cultural history.
- Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C. K. Janu — illustrated biography of Adivasi activist C. K. Janu.
- Adukkala — illustrated exploration of traditional kitchens and food culture in North Kerala.
Selected works
- Colonial Kingdom: Don’t Worry, Be Happy! (2012).[7]
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