Founded in 2022, Aazhi Archives explores the layered histories, cultural networks, and ecological realities of the Indian Ocean region, foregrounding local knowledge and shared stewardship.

Guided by the mission Art + Knowledge + People, Aazhi Archives brings together artists, historians, and communities to examine Kerala’s maritime worlds, cosmopolitan pasts, and emergent futures. Through exhibitions, workshops, conversations, and research-driven initiatives, the organisation fosters critical inquiry into memory, migration, ecology, and the region’s plural inheritances.

Aazhi Archives envisions itself as a dynamic site of learning and exchange linking institutions across continents and building an expansive digital and material repository of stories, images, texts, documents, and sensory histories. The collective seeks to cultivate synergies among museums, biennales, galleries, and community groups, creating shared platforms for artistic research and global conversations.

Committed to hybrid pedagogical models, Aazhi Archives integrates field-based research, interdisciplinary teaching, and online/offline learning. Its “artacademic” approach bridges contemporary artistic practice with archival and scholarly methods, emphasising that people themselves are the custodians and carriers of the knowledge generated through these collaborations.