Parag Tandel's practice is rooted in his identity as a member of Mumbai's early coastal inhabitant community, the Koli. The Koli community value a special relationship with water, as a life-giving source, site of purification, cyclical life, and ancestral wisdom. Urban expansion and development inevitably affect water temperature and marine ecology. His inquiry into his community’s history and contemporary times has resulted in an archive of past chronicles, local myths, deities, indigenous marine life, and staple Koli recipes.
Though otherworldly in appearance, this sculpture is Tandel’s representation of a particular marine organism—the plankton. These microscopic organisms are vital to marine ecosystems and are the main food source for whale sharks, which the Koli community reveres as Bahiridev, a sea deity never hunted. But climate change and urban development are disrupting this delicate balance. As plankton populations decline, so do the whale sharks. Through his art, Tandel voices a powerful protest- calling attention to the deep cultural and ecological ties between coastal communities and the sea, and urging us to rethink how we care for our marine environments.
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