Spectacular as it was, all was not well with the Kochi Biennale

There was much to celebrate at this edition of the Kochi Biennale but a dispute over unpaid wages for workers made its central message about inclusiveness ring hollow

The clothes line set against Kochi’s gorgeous waterfront, with white T-shirts fluttering in the breeze, looks like it might belong to fishermen from a nearby beach. On closer inspection, the shirts have the names and ages of men sold as slaves from Kerala by Dutch traders in the 17th century to their counterparts in South Africa, and the names of the buyer and seller. Now, they seem like mobile tombstones that are markers also of Western colonialism’s partiality for legalese and documentation of inhumane acts. The thoughtful guide at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale who was leading a group of young journalism