Exhibitions

mild tooth of milk

Tentacled tendrils wriggling out, long limbs with brightly painted nails, smiling heads and rainbow-shooting eyes all make up Dutch artist afra eisma’s tactile world. Bursting with colour and feeling, their practice is a patchwork of soft carpets, ceramics and textiles. Join us in Fort Kochi to experience eisma’s work and gently cuddle with the friendly aliens who will call this space their meeting grounds for the next few months. The exhibition, mild tooth of milk, is an invitation to be warm, stay generous, and intend to feel and connect through play.

MAP will be showcasing eisma’s works at the Dutch Warehouse at the time of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26.. Spread over the first floor, the two bodies of work that make up this exhibition—hush and warrior garments—are soft and spirited, sitting unbound as they invite you to move animately through the space.

hush is a giant tactile tapestry running through the room—silver cones with cat-like creatures and conjoined heads, fun-sized shoes, hearts and eyes strewn about. This gathering place invites you to take off your shoes, sit down and softly interact with these textile surfaces. warrior garments are imagined attire sewn in silk and organza, with hand-painted text that traces the artist’s many activist reflections. These works explore anger and rage as potent forces for transformation. She creates a space where visitors—especially those who have also endured sexual violence—are acknowledged and embraced. By foregrounding emotion as both personal and political energy, eisma invites viewers to reconsider how vulnerability, resistance, and healing can coexist. The installation offers room for soft conversations, particularly for survivors of sexual violence.

With mild tooth of milk, eisma uses beautiful colours and textures to create spaces that are informal yet charged with energy and experience—they welcome play and gathering, alongside a softness and ambiguity toward both your own and others’ feelings that can allow for transformation. Experience this immersive exhibition set against the backdrop of Fort Kochi, salt in the air, during a most exciting time for the port town!

mild tooth of milk will be on view at the Dutch Warehouse in Fort Kochi from December 12, 2025 – March 31, 2026.

Image Courtesy: afra eisma, Images by Philipp Scholz Rittermann, 2025

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in India, the HSBC India and the Mondriaan Fund.