Art at the Frontlines of Climate and Community
Cochin is a city shaped by tides and trade. Fort Kochi has withstood historic waves of migration, labour, and survival. This historical coastal quarter has emerged as a site of Cochin’s largest painted mural created by Shilo Shiv Suleman’s Fearless Foundation. They have painted a 200-metre-long public artwork on the compound wall of the Indian Coast Guard Office, which has evolved into an artistic space honouring those souls who have worked relentlessly to sustain and safeguard India’s coastline. This mural is not just a visual treat to the city, but a part of the “At the Root” initiative. The rudimentary focus area of this initiative intersects climate justice, gender, and labour. The Fearless Foundation is known across South Asia for its contribution to public art. Engraved in the essence of community engagement and co-creation, the mural taps into lived experiences and the impact of climate change.
A Confluence of Narratives
The mural is a kaleidoscopic representation of a plethora of tales. It merges the sagas of the Indian Coast Guard, local mangrove plantation workers, and traditional fishing communities. The murals minimize the distance between the security keepers of the coast and the local custodians of the land.
Fearless Ambassadors and the Power of Listening
The creation of the mural was a collective effort of 10 “Fearless Ambassadors.” These ambassadors formed an umbrella body of artists and activists from countries across South Asia and beyond. It includes people from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Myanmar. They facilitated listening circles and rituals in collaboration with residents. These sessions permitted the participants to share stories related to various climatic challenges such as rising sea levels, pollution, and issues related to coastal livelihood.
Murals as Archives of Lived Experience
The resulting artwork was a genuine reflection of lived experiences. The Fearless Foundation’s broader agenda is to demonstrate public art as a democratic process where people are not mere subjects or viewers, but are the creators of the design. Rather than following a hard and fast artistic vision, they let people opine and choose their artistic call. Fearless’ work has noted how such murals function as “archives on walls,” preserving oral histories and ecological memory in shared urban spaces.
At the Root: Climate Justice Beyond Symptoms
Fort Kochi is a part of the Fearless Foundation’s long-term climate justice focus area called “At The Root.” This initiative focuses on structural inequalities in how climate change impacts gender, labour, indigeneity, and historical marginalisation. These rituals, storytelling, and other tangible practices, the initiative bridges immediate reality with global crisis. This is the need of the hour in coastal South Asia, where environmental degradation is deeply entangled with its colonial past, extract-oriented economies, and present-day governing challenges.
Celebrating Collective Imagination
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The completion of the mural was complemented by a formal closing ceremony with a great feast. Food, music, and storytelling animated the space, reimagining the idea that celebration itself can be an act of resistance. Gatherings like these have been the hallmark of Fearless projects across the globe. In Fort Kochi, the feast served as a statement that climate justice is not only about survival but also about sustaining joy, culture, and connection.
Project Overview and Impact
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Indian Coast Guard Office, Calvathy Road, Fort Kochi |
| Dimensions | 200 metres (Cochin’s largest mural) |
| Theme | “At the Root” – Climate Justice and Coastal Communities |
| Participants | Shilo Shiv Suleman’s Fearless Ambassadors (6 countries), Indian Coast Guard, and local fisherfolk |
| Methodology | Participatory public art, storytelling rituals, and listening circles |
| Culmination | Fearless Feast featuring community storytelling, music, and food |
| International Collaboration | Fearless Ambassadors from six countries across South Asia and beyond |
| Closing Event | Fearless Feast held at the mural site |
Key Highlights
- Cochin’s largest mural created through community co-creation
- Focus on coastal protection, climate justice, and invisible labour
- Participation of international Fearless Ambassadors
- Integration of storytelling, ritual, and public art
- Fearless Feast celebrates collective creativity and resilience
- Unlike traditional street art, the mural featured open “community paint sessions,” where the public was invited to pick up brushes and contribute to the wall
- This installation adds to the Fearless Collective’s global footprint, which includes over 52 murals across 20 countries, all aimed at replacing narratives of fear with those of love and beauty.
Takeaway
The whole point of this project was to elevate public art from the point of view of being an aesthetic decor to a mainstream engagement programme with real people. Today, climate change is often quoted through daunting statistics and “doom-scrolling” headlines. Amidst this, Shilo Shiv Suleman and the Fearless Foundation’s work demonstrates that murals can function as spaces where climate justice is narrated not through slogans but through lived realities.
Drawing on the walls of institutions like the Indian Coast Guard, it suggests that “safeguarding” a coastline is as much about the policy of the state as it is about the ancestral knowledge of the woman planting saplings in the silt. Thus, it offered a crucial model for how art, activism, and community participation can overlap and produce something creative and worthy of bringing about a change.
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This mural is a representation of the fact that the public space is also a political arena. By decorating a trivial wall and coating it with colours of the community’s spirit, the Fearless Foundation invigorated the collective psyche of the people who are now more conscious of climate-related issues.
In the face of ecological uncertainty, such acts of beauty are essential acts of initiating a tide of “change.” This mural stands tall as a proof that when communities are invited to imagine together, walls can speak, history can be rewritten in real time, and art can become an act of protection.
