Bridging Eras: Artists Ananth Ramaswamy and Devi Seetharam Explore the V&A’s Historic Cochin Ceiling

For artists Ananth Ramaswamy and Devi Seetharam, the journey toward their latest commission for the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has been defined by a transition from digital abstraction to tactile reality. Tasked with creating a contemporary intervention that engages with the museum’s historic Cochin Ceiling, the duo recently marked a significant milestone in their creative process: their first in-person encounter with the artifact.

The Cochin Ceiling, a masterpiece of 19th-century Kerala craftsmanship, is a coffered, polychromed teak structure that represents a profound intersection of architectural heritage and artistic labor. For Ramaswamy and Seetharam, the encounter in London was not merely a site visit; it was the culmination of a long-distance collaboration that had, until now, relied entirely on the mediation of digital archives, high-resolution photographs, and remote scholarly exchange.

The Evolution of a Research Process

The project began with a rigorous intellectual deep dive into the motifs that define the ceiling, most notably the lotus. As an enduring symbol in South Asian art and architecture, the lotus is laden with complex cultural and spiritual significance. The artists spent months mapping the various ways this flower has been articulated throughout the history of Kerala’s visual landscape. However, as they began to consider the broader implications of the commission—specifically the act of recontextualizing a historic, site-specific ceiling within a contemporary museum setting—their research expanded.

They began to look beyond the immediate geography of Kerala, examining how the V&A’s vast, global collections have interpreted the lotus across different centuries and cultures. This period of remote study provided a foundational understanding of the object, yet both artists recognized the limitations of working from afar. The digital archive, while indispensable, lacked the physical presence necessary to inform a design that intends to dialogue with such a monumental historic structure.

Devi Seetharam’s arrival in London transformed this remote, academic understanding into something far more nuanced. By moving from the screen to the conservation studio, the artists were able to engage with the materiality of the work in a way that photographs simply cannot replicate.

Seeing the Ceiling in Person

The true weight of the commission became apparent when the duo was granted behind-the-scenes access to the Cochin Ceiling while it was undergoing conservation. Standing before the historic panels, the artists were confronted with the sheer physical reality of the object. Its scale, which felt overwhelming even in drawings, took on a different dimension when viewed at close quarters.

The conservation process, which involves the meticulous cleaning and stabilization of the timber, allowed the artists to see details that had been obscured by the passage of time. They observed the intricate depth of the carving, the robust transverse structure that maintains the integrity of the panels, and the subtle variations between individual pieces—a testament to the human hand involved in its creation over a century ago. Perhaps most striking was the revelation of the ceiling’s original color palette. As the layers of dust and aging were removed, the polychromy began to emerge, shifting the artists’ understanding of how the piece functioned visually in its original context.

Working in tandem with the V&A’s conservation team, Ramaswamy and Seetharam used this visit to test the material language of their own forthcoming intervention. They arrived prepared with a collection of wood samples—species commonly used for carving in contemporary India—and an array of stains and oils. By placing these samples directly against the historic teak, they were able to conduct a "material conversation."

This experimentation led to a critical realization: the instinct to perfectly match the original timber might not be the most sensitive approach. They observed that while darker samples tended to recede, creating a quiet backdrop, warmer timbers engaged more harmoniously with the colors being uncovered by the conservators. This discovery was a vital step in ensuring that their contribution would complement, rather than compete with, the historic integrity of the original ceiling.

A Deeper Engagement with the Collection

The visit was not confined to the ceiling itself. To build the necessary depth for their commission, the artists immersed themselves in the broader V&A ecosystem. They engaged with experts from various departments, whose specialized knowledge provided the artists with new frameworks for thinking about their own work.

Their research led them through the museum’s galleries, storage facilities, and archives, where they examined over a hundred objects. The process was intentionally open-ended, allowing for serendipitous discoveries. While some items were selected based on their pre-existing research goals, others revealed their importance only upon physical inspection.

This tactile interaction proved invaluable. A glazed bowl, for instance, revealed a subtle, deliberate indentation that had been invisible in high-resolution photography. A small, seemingly simple metal object suggested a new way of abstracting a lotus petal into a few essential lines. These encounters forced a shift in perspective, moving the focus toward the finer details of craftsmanship: the weight of a line, the texture of a surface, the way light plays across a material, and the complexities of scale.

During these sessions, Seetharam engaged in the act of drawing, capturing the essence of these objects as they were brought out from storage. This practice helped the artists translate the "monumental" nature of some objects and the "nuanced" simplicity of others into their design vocabulary. It was a process of observation that valued the questions raised by an object as much as the answers it provided.

Developing a Way of Looking

For the artists, the most rewarding aspect of this phase was the institutional support for a slow, observational research process. In a fast-paced creative industry, the luxury of time is often rare. By allowing them the space to study the collection without the pressure of an immediate design translation, the V&A enabled a deeper, more intentional creative trajectory.

This period of study was not about finding a single, static design solution. Instead, it was about cultivating a specific "way of looking." By observing the historical evolution of the lotus motif and the physical realities of the Cochin Ceiling, the artists have developed a methodology that will inform every decision made in the creation of their new work.

The commission is slated to be a centerpiece of the V&A’s transformed South Asia Gallery, which is scheduled to open to the public in 2028. The gallery’s refurbishment is part of a larger institutional effort to rethink how these historic collections are presented, interpreted, and made relevant to contemporary audiences. The project is made possible through the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Dunard Fund, and a group of generous donors, including Mandakini Puri.

As Ramaswamy and Seetharam return to their studio work, they carry with them the lessons of their London visit. The project is no longer just a theoretical exercise or a digital study; it is a response to the material, the history, and the quiet, persistent questions that can only be answered by standing in the presence of the work itself. Through this deliberate process, the artists are preparing to contribute a new chapter to the long and storied life of the Cochin Ceiling.