Kochi Biennale: Trichy Family's Decade-Long Secret to Festival Success

Lakshmi TR The Kochi Muziris Biennale draws artists, curators and visitors from across the world. Less noticed, but central to the festival’s day-to-day functioning is a 35-member family from Trichy that has made the festival its annual workplace for more than a decade.

At the head of this vast housekeeping operation is 70-year-old Ashokan, ‘thaatha’ (grandfather) as he is fondly called, coordinating the work behind the scenes that keeps these spaces running through the four-month-event. Thirty-three relatives, along with two of Ashokan’s friends — considered family in every sense — have been working across all Biennale venues, overseeing their upkeep, since the days leading up to the inauguration.Now in its sixth edition, the Biennale runs from Dec 12, 2025, to March 31, 2026. Themed ‘For the Time Being’, the festival features more than 66 artists from around the world across 22 venues in Kochi. Since the third Biennale (2016–2017), Ashokan has been entrusted with providing cleaning staff for the event, and each time he has relied on his own family. “I don’t need to look beyond my home for hands I can trust. Every corner they clean carries our reputation,” says Ashokan, the blend of Tamil roots and Malayali upbringing evident in his accent.

His four children, he says, speak fluent Malayalam. “Thaatha thaan thalaivar” (Grandfather is the leader), says a grandchild.

Ashokan says his friends from Kunnumpuram, Koya and Rafeek, are his “pillars of strength”.The Biennale months have become a period of reunion for the family. Everyone, from his four children and their spouses to his 10 grandchildren and extended relatives, all between the ages of 18 and 70 years, make themselves available.

“We can’t bring the whole family together even for major temple festivals in our native place; the Biennale is where we see everyone,” says Jaya, his eldest daughter.Ashokan, who has lived in Adhikarivalappu, Fort Kochi, says while the daily wage was `700 in 2016, each family member now earns `1,000 a day, making the Biennale an important source of income. Family members come from diverse professional backgrounds, including engineering, visual communication, painting and small businesses.The family, which starts streaming into Kerala in Nov, gets to celebrate festivals together, from Diwali and New Year to Pongal. “For Pongal, we dressed in traditional attire, cooked traditional dishes and danced around a hearth. Non-Tamil volunteers also joined in, wearing sarees and shirt-mundu,” says Ashokan.Email your feedback to [email protected]