French artist Shivay La Multiple, currently a Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) Residency artist, has turned the much-maligned water hyacinth into a symbol of resilience and protection in her latest exhibition at Devassy Jose and Sons, Bazaar Road, Mattancherry.
Long dismissed as an invasive threat to waterways, the water hyacinth here becomes almost divine—a guardian of waterscapes rather than their conqueror. Native to the Amazon Basin but now spreading across continents, the plant’s adaptability inspires Shivay’s layered reading of coexistence and harmony.
“They are like colourful caps, cooling the waters, trapping pollutants, and offering shelter to aquatic life,” Shivay explained. “The mermaids, I believe, placed them on waters to protect them.”
Her installation, composed of tiny glass beads strung on flexible metal, forms a sculpted cluster resembling water hyacinths twisting like Möbius strips, challenging conventional spatial concepts. Beneath it lies a floor art mandala, echoing the lotus pose, suggesting the plant’s spiritual kinship with the lotus—a universal symbol of purity and protection. Ritualistic elements like mini conches and seeds evoke ancestry, myths, and unity.
Encircling the work are Malayalam letters reading: “Thante pavithra jalangale samrakshikkanayi matsyakanyaka avale avide sthaapichu” (“To protect my sacred waters, the mermaid has placed it there”)—a poignant invocation to preserve the planet’s lifelines.
Complementing the sculpture are five large textile prints cascading from ceiling to floor, weaving imagery from Cameroon to Kochi. The prints mirror her own cross-continental roots and portray water myths, hyacinths, and divine abstractions that blur the line between land and sea, fantasy and reality.
Part of the KBF’s long-term research and development project “Oraayiram Kadal (A Thousand Seas)”, the exhibition aligns closely with its core ethos—reclaiming oceanic narratives and challenging colonial frameworks of knowledge and identity.
Working between Paris and Nouméa (New Caledonia), Shivay employs digital and physical media to explore the spiritual, economic, and political lives of rivers—the arteries that link civilizations through the oceans. Through her lens, the once-despised water hyacinth emerges as a sacred emblem of renewal, protection, and planetary kinship.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
