Riyas Komu

Riyas Komu is an artist and curator who has exhibited his works worldwide, including the Venice Biennale. His works -- paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs and installations dwell on a range of subjects that include war, migration, civilisational memories, displacement, violence, betrayal, history, conflict, multiculturalism & football and Indian Constitution.

He is the ideator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and co-founder of the Kochi Biennale Foundation. He co-curated the first edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012 and made the biennale as a multidisciplinary educational project as the director of programmes. Komu is the co-founder of URU Art Harbour, a cultural hub in Mattancherry, Kochi, which promotes artists from the region focused on Kerala history, local culture and maritime traditions. He co-curated the first International Football Film Festival in India at the Goa International Film Festival and Trivandrum International Film Festival in 2012. His critically acclaimed solo projects include “Faith Accompli - 2005” on religious fundamentalism, “Related List - 2008” on war, civilisational crisis and displacement and ‘Holy Shiver-2018 ’ on conflicts along with the art in the Constitution. In 2019, Komu curated the Kondotty Sufi Festival in Malappuram, Kerala. 2016 he co-founded Uru Art Harbour and 2022 he co-founded Aazhi Archives with a group of academics and scholars. He curated many exhibition projects recently which includes A Silpi Rajan retrospective. His Museum project in collaboration with Pazhassi Museum, Kerala state archeology department, KCHR and Muziris Heritage project won lots of critical acclaim. He is currently the artistic director of The Ishara House, Kochi for the Amphibian Aesthetics Exhibition and ‘Sea a Boiling Vessel’ , an ongoing research project which puts the spotlight on Knowledge + Art + People.