Shining light on the western past

KOCHI: When Kasaragod- native Aflah Habeeb Mohammed visited Mumbai for the first time in 2016, he noticed the famed Marine Drive promenade strewn with colossal examples of what he had, until then, only read about in course books. Almost everywhere Aflah looked, he saw buildings constructed evidently in a style recognised as art deco. A western decorative style with its roots in the 1920s and 30s, art deco is characterised chiefly by bold geometric motifs, curvilinear design elements, definite patterns and vivid colours. By the time it came to India in the late 1930s and 40s, art deco heralded a truly modern sensibility, an import from the West, so thereby aspirational, but also, in its essence, futuristic.

Being an architecture student, Aflah had known about Mumbai’s affiliation to art deco. The city, as declared by Unesco in 2018, had the largest collection of art deco buildings next to Miami in the US which is considered by many as the mecca of the style. Upon returning to Kerala, the 25-year-old realised his hangover hadn’t worn off.

To his complete surprise, Aflah started noticing subtle elements of art deco in half-a-century old, almost-in-ruin, seemingly-unremarkable buildings across the state. Fascinated, he started taking pictures of these elements which were otherwise all too easy to miss. “In college, we learnt about how art deco style was an important movement but we were never taught about it in the context of Kerala. Something that’s right in front of our eyes but mostly overlooked. I was amazed by how intertwined it was in our culture. So, I wanted to capture and document all the references I found,” says Aflah.

However, he thought little of the photos he had amassed. It was, after all, meant to be a personal project. “At the beginning of the lockdown, I came across pages dedicated to art deco architecture in other cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi on Instagram. So I decided to start a page for Kerala,” adds Aflah who is currently working as a freelance graphic designer.Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of Kerala’s tryst with art deco is how it merged seamlessly with the vernacular style of architecture. 

An unlikely union seldom witnessed in cities elsewhere. For a topography that necessitated the sloping tiled roof, an iconic feature that has come to signify the tharavadu style of construction, art deco nestled itself among understated influences. It blended with traditional building practices to manifest sporadically through ornamental elements on balcony designs, ventilator jalis, ziggurat facade patterns and more prominently on compound gates in Kerala of the 1950s and 60s. “According to my observation, art deco reached Kerala a decade or so after other metros were experimenting with the style and it lasted till the 1980s.”

Having started what he thought was an unassuming attempt, Aflah finds himself in the midst of a determined community working towards preserving crumbling art deco buildings in the country. His project is further extended for its scope stretches the entire state rather than a city. The Instagram handle has already been getting traction from monument conservation circles and academicians. “All the admins of art deco pages in India have formed a WhatsApp group recently. We hope this will help in sharing information on art deco buildings which are in a bad state and abandoned. There need to concentrated efforts to revive or renovate them,” adds Aflah. More on Instagram @kerala.artdeco