Vitamin Sea, Coastal Road Project 3, 2023, by Parag Tandel
Resin cast, 34 in (diameter) x 37.8 in (height)
If the history of the development of Mumbai were told from the perspective of the ocean, it would have to centre on the steady disappearance of habitat for marine organisms and the loss of sustenance for the city’s indigenous people, the Kolis. In effect, this history would be an account of the violence and erasure as a result of growth and urbanization.
How can we remember what is gone or what is in the process of passing into oblivion? This is the question at the core of the practice of artist Parag Tandel, a self-described auto-ethnographer documenting his community’s knowledge via sculptures, installations, drawings, and books. Tandel’s on-going project ‘Vitamin Sea’ attempts to memorialize the small creatures vital for marine biodiversity and which occupy a sacred place in the cosmology of the Koli people.
Part of this series, Coastal Road Project 3 makes a direct reference to the large-scale building activity that has affected Koli livelihoods as well as organisms that live in the intertidal zones. We see barnacles—known for filtering water, and thereby maintaining the health of the ocean—pierced by rebar, symbolizing the destruction we have wrought on our environment. The base of the sculpture is made in translucent blue resin, a material used in making fibreglass boats. Tandel attempts to capture the many facets of the changes that have already taken place, presenting us with warnings for the future.
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If the history of the development of Mumbai were told from the perspective of the ocean, it would have to centre on the steady disappearance of habitat for marine organisms and the loss of sustenance for the city’s indigenous people, the Kolis. In effect, this history would be an account of the violence and erasure as a result of growth and urbanization.
How can we remember what is gone or what is in the process of passing into oblivion? This is the question at the core of the practice of artist Parag Tandel, a self-described auto-ethnographer documenting his community’s knowledge via sculptures, installations, drawings, and books. Tandel’s on-going project ‘Vitamin Sea’ attempts to memorialize the small creatures vital for marine biodiversity and which occupy a sacred place in the cosmology of the Koli people.
Part of this series, Coastal Road Project 3 makes a direct reference to the large-scale building activity that has affected Koli livelihoods as well as organisms that live in the intertidal zones. We see barnacles—known for filtering water, and thereby maintaining the health of the ocean—pierced by rebar, symbolizing the destruction we have wrought on our environment. The base of the sculpture is made in translucent blue resin, a material used in making fibreglass boats. Tandel attempts to capture the many facets of the changes that have already taken place, presenting us with warnings for the future.