Showcasing the seafarers of Malabar

Walk into the Uru art harbour in Mattancherry and you are bound to be struck by the intensity in the still photos that are displayed as part of KR Sunil’s exhibition tiled Manchukkar - The Seafarers of Malabar.
Manchukkar were the traditional seamen from Malabar employed in country crafts and were pioneers of cross-regional labour that was vital to the functioning of trade, transportation and pilgrimage throughout the Arabian Sea.
The exhibition features black and white photos of the seamen that KR Sunil has met in the port towns of North Kerala, along with “their intense and extraordinary experiences that made the line between life and death indistinct”. The exhibition is on till March 31, 2019.