After painter and Padma Bhushan awardee Jatin Das was alleged to be a sexual predator by multiple women, an Instagram account has published over two dozen allegations against others in the art community.
Many of the posts are anonymous and do not name the perpetrators. However, sculptor Valsan Koorma Kolleri, curator Rahul Bhattacharya and artist Riyas Komu have been specifically named in different posts.
Komu is also the co-founder of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Asia’s biggest art event held in Kochi.
An anonymous post alleges that Komu invited her to Kochi on the pretext of discussing a project and introducing her to other people. She writes that when the two were having a friendly drink at a restaurant, Komu “ran his fingers up my arm and thigh, and asked me, ‘what are you really here for?”
She replied that she was there “for work”. Later, when they were returning, Komu began walking towards her room, even though she had not asked him to. “He made his way into the room first and immediately pushed me against the wall. He began kissing me and feeling me up while I struggled to even process what the hell was going on.”
“I was so petrified that I just let it happen. It stopped just as abruptly as it had started.” The post states that during the woman’s stay in Delhi, she was violated by Komu again.
Another post, against Valsan Koorma Kolleri alleges that he molested a student. The woman alleges that Kolleri is the father of a senior from her school. He invited the woman and her friend to his Fort Kochi studio ‘to paint’. “He went to the kitchen. And called me there. The moment we were alone, he held me in a vice like grip and forcibly kissed my face, then my bod. I was revolted,” the post says.
She added that Kolleri also spoke about “other female students he has relationships with.” Kolleri has collaborated with the Kochi Biennale Foundation (founded by Riyas Komu) on several occasions and is one of the prominent artists to be exhibited at the Kochi-Muziris-Biennale.
One post against Rahul Bhattacharya does not detail specific events but says that survivors have recounted “the story of financial abuse, threats, gaslighting, psychological abuse and character assassination of women artists by a male curator.” Bhattacharya used to be the curator of Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Another anonymous woman has said that Bhattacharya has been harassing her for two months. “Rahul Bhattacharya has been calling up colleagues at my place of work and asking them About my whereabouts, getting messages conveyed that I’ll make sure she doesn’t get allowed a space to work next year, as the secretary of the institute is his old association, and male colleagues are joking that if we speak to you, hope we don’t get framed in #metoo.”
An anonymous post talks about being molested by an artist at the Kochi Biennale. The woman, who was a volunteer at the event, writes “They used to invite local artists some whom were downright creepy and ‘full of love’ after they got drunk. But one day the same man who I used to talk with and had respect for as an artist and as someone who was going through a lot to put up with this exhibition came into the room all by himself and started talking innocently and he pulled me closer and grabbed my buttocks and tried to kiss me. As I resisted he grabbed my breasts and said I smelled nice. I pushed him away and ran out to my friend who was across in the other hall.”
The woman did not file a complaint because “he was one of the most important people there and we knew that a complaint would lead to nowhere. She said that she spoke to other volunteers who reconfirmed that the “top management” at Kochi Biennale had a poor view of the volunteers and there was an assumption that the volunteers were “asking for it.”
Several users commented on these posts, expressing horror and disgust. Some proposed boycotting the Kochi-Meziris Biennale altogether. The instagram handle, named Scene and Herd has been posting stories from survivors and calling on the art community to out it’s predators.
Also read: #MeToo: Four Women Accuse Artist And Padma Bhushan Recipient Jatin Das Of Sexual Harassment