Born in Bison Valley, near Munnar, and into the realities of farmland conflict and the stirring wilderness, artist PR Satheesh draws heavily from his intimate relationship with nature. His family's decision to shift to a cardamom plantation, away from familiar faces, impacted him to an extent that it gave rise to his unique, free-flowing artistic language and stark visualizations. His use of medium ranges from natural pigments to watercolors, experiments in sculpture with wood and more recently large canvases with oil paints. Now, Satheesh balances his time between the city and the hills. These contrasting experiences of anonymity amongst the city crowds, and familiarity in the quiet of his village, reflect in the layered visuals that compose his work. https://www.instagram.com/p/Br7KWB1gpGv/ - Untitled by PR Satheesh was on display at the Aspinwall House during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018.

Artist Riyas Komu talks about his latest work "A Art" which is being displayed at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Invoking the memory of Dandi March, Kabir, Guru Nanak and Narayana Guru, artist has also produced an extra work of Gandhi’s spectacles in gold considering the metal carries memories and travels generations. “I see Gandhi’s ideas having those qualities as well.”

Anton Kats was an artist-in-residence at Pepper House in September. During his time in the area, he found connections between his home-town in South Kherson, Ukraine and Kerala in an ongoing work called "Satellite Island". The Residency, according to the artist, also helped further aspects of his own practice. Anton's residency was supported by Pepper House, Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and bangaloREsidency

Theatre-maker Anamika Haksar's work is socially and politically engaged, and speaks of injustices and inequalities. For KMB 2016, Haksar presented an improvisational theatre and installation work called 'Composition on Water', which engages with memories of oppression, and the contemporary crisis of water in a climate changing world. Using texts by Dalit writers as foundation for improvisation, the performance speaks of untouchable peoples, in untouchable locations, reeling under untouchable situations

This year's Biennale features Oorali, a contemporary conversational band dealing with folk-reggae genre mostly known for their political themes and songs. Oorali is the voice of changing times, culture, destruction of environment, attacks on human rights and also is a melodious voice that makes you dance uninhibitedly in the concert. The band brings together a blend of actors, musicians, writers and visual artistes to create unique experiences. Starting in Janurary, they are going to travel the shores of Kerala in their iconic bus, "The Oorali Express". This journey is dedicated to the brave 'fisherfolk army' of the state who saved thousands of lives during the floods.

Pratul says: “ My work deals with the joy of nature, culture, brotherhood, egalitarian values, equality in society, and everything else that is beautiful in the cosmos. Rapid urbanisation, dislocation of people, environmental damages to mother earth, and the direction in which science and developments are headed around the globe are subjects of deep introspection and thinking. These concerns are always in the subtext of my aesthetic ventures. As an artist I am a realist. Truth in art is the most private thing to an artist. It is his or her subjective truth, which is based on his/her perception, circumstances, and contexts. Universal and historical realities and issues form conceptual backgrounds for my artworks."

Chilean poet and featuring artist at the 2016 Kochi-Muziris Biennale on the possibility of an artistic response to the human crises of our time, including the refugee crisis surrounding the conflict in Syria. Zurita thinks about the common and universal good of water, which today has also become a grave for hundreds of people, including children. Raul Zurita’s ‘The Sea of Pain’ was created on-site at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016.

Jagannath Panda worked on the symbolism of the lotus and rituals in the North East.Panda is an artist of differential domains when it comes to creating.His works have always had infinite capacity to run through universal idioms of both metaphors and matrixes of lifestyle and cultural ethos. Panda has worked with many mediums and is a brilliant installation artist.He brings forward the mandala not as a flower but as a leitmotif for the symbolism of peace and its many petals having the ability to create a consonance that embraces the cosmos when we think of the Seven Sisters of the East

'His Secret Dialogues' is a story about layers, about how we add to what comes before express the relationship between mind and body, human and animal, inside and outside. Throughout the biennale, Bagyanath will inhabit a studio space and continue to create layers of his drawings on translucent sheets- adding them each day.