Rooted in the oral histories and lived realities of Mumbai’s Koli community, Parag Tandel’s practice is an inquiry into identity, ecology, and memory. As one of the city’s earliest coastal inhabitants, the Koli people share a profound relationship with water, as a site of life, ritual, and ancestral wisdom. Yet, the rapid expansion of Mumbai has disrupted this fragile balance, altering marine ecologies and reshaping community life.
Tandel’s sculptural installation How to Cook Bombay Duck in Various Ways becomes a memorial to this loss. Once abundant in Mumbai’s waters, the Bombay Duck now struggles for survival, its populations dwindling due to rising ocean temperatures, overfishing, and forced migration. The installation recalls the city’s geography through an old map of its original islands, where racks of Bombay Duck hang alongside motifs of local marine life, a haunting evocation of absence and resilience.
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