NAMASTE!

Luso Indians are of Indo-Portuguese origin. 

Before the arrival of the Dutch, the Portuguese were in power in Kochi. The Luso-Indian race was born when Portuguese men, who took the long and hazardous journey to Kochi married local women. 

To this day, the Luso Indian community maintains the traces of their European origin in their culinary habits, dressing and festivals. 

According the community members there were people in Kochi that could fluently speak Portuguese until 1980s. However, English has now replaced Portuguese as their mother tongue. After the Portuguese were defeated by the Dutch most Luso Indian families migrated to the outskirts of Kochi. But, according to the official data, 250 families still continue to live in the area.

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION BY BIJU IBRAHIM: COMMUNITIES OF KOCHI

Places have souls and Mattancherry in the city of Kochi has a mystic one. Biju Ibrahim discovered this while documenting the lives of Kochi’s 38 communities through black and white pictures. Distinct in layers of identities – caste, faith, language, ethnicity and region – these communities have been welcomed over centuries and have, in turn, infused Mattancherry and Kochi with a rare and rich heritage. Historically, it has been home to Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus. The sea and port attracted sailors, traders from Arabia and Gujarat, preachers of Semitic faiths, colonisers such as the Dutch and Portuguese, political refugees and migrant labourers. A cross-section of India lives here in a radius of 5 kilometers. 

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AUTHOR & PHOTOGRAPHER

BIJU IBRAHIM

He captures the essence of rustic geographies, the people who are now becoming archive of the earth, the mythic & mystery of spaces & places, alleys of now filled with the density of then or before.

ART ORGANISATION

URU ART HARBOUR

URU art harbour is a cultural hub situated at Kochi. URU seeks to be a space for collaboration and a continual hub for artistic, cultural, and intellectual exploration. Founded by Riyas Komu and Zoya Riyas.

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