Born in 1989 in Thrissur, Kerala, Dibin Thilakan lives and works in Mattancherry, Kochi. He holds an MFA in Painting from the School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad (2013), and a BFA in Painting from the Government College of Fine Arts, Thrissur (2010). His practice moves between painting, sculpture, installation, and public art, engaging with questions of memory, lineage, labour, place, and the social and political conditions of contemporary life. Dibin Thilakan’s practice considers the human figure and the spaces it inhabits as sites where memory, labour, lineage, intimacy, and social histories accumulate. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, and reclaimed materials, he explores how personal experiences intersect with larger social and political conditions. His works often inhabit a space between the intimate and the collective, where memories are not fixed but continuously reshaped by the present.
A recurring material in his practice is reclaimed wood, particularly discarded doors. Carrying traces of use, damage, labour, and time, these objects function as more than supports: they become active repositories of lived histories. The door, in particular, operates as a recurring motif—simultaneously a threshold, boundary, passage, and marker of access. It evokes the possibility of entering or leaving while also bringing attention to the social structures that determine who is allowed to cross, belong, or remain outside.
Thilakan has presented several solo exhibitions, including Descendants of Delights and Dismay at Gallery OED, Kochi (2024, 2026), Ties that Bind at Gallery OED Memoir, Kochi (2023), and Ode to Home at Gallery OED and other institutions. His work has been exhibited at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Sarayam Museum, New Delhi, and galleries across India and internationally, including Tsomoriri Bunko, Tokyo. He has also participated in numerous public art and community projects across Kerala and has undertaken residencies and national art camps. His works are part of collections including the Sarmaya Collection, Mumbai.
