Parag Tandel’s ‘Khari Gaboli’ explores Koli culture, coastal ecology and memory at TARQ

Parag Tandel explains the cyanotype images, which explore the relationship between the seashore, aquatic organisms, coral reefs and the communities that depend on them. Pics/Ashish Raje

As we experience Parag Tandel's new exhibition, Khari Gaboli/Salted Caviar at TARQ, the first story he tells us is about Maan Kapya, a headless figure from Konkani folklore. Tandel laughs as he recalls how the story stayed with him. "The story dates back to our childhood, when adults would invoke Maan Kapya to keep children away from the roads and the seashore after dark," he says. It is an unusual introduction, but one that quickly sets the tone for an exhibition rooted in memory, coastal ecology, labour, and the lived histories of the Koli community.

Original untitled image from Vitamin-Sea Archives: Sediments of Intelligence along with its colourful AI-enabled version

"At heart, the exhibition is Khari Gaboli (in Marathi), but after wanting to translate it, we fixated on Salted Caviar," Tandel says, explaining the title. He then takes us through four bodies of work developed over several years, each examining the relationship between the Koli community and the sea from a different perspective.

Brings together coral reefs, marine organisms, undersea cables and shipwrecks to create a reverse-engineered map of the ocean floor

At Estuaries of Waning Sounds, Tandel speaks about the Koli words and knowledge that continue to shape the project. At Salt Shrines: Colour Blind, he draws from Koli votive traditions, coastal rituals and found materials to explore the community's relationship with the sea, while Vitamin-Sea Archives: Sediments of Intelligence brings together geological memory, marine life and technology to imagine an archive of the ocean floor.

Maan Kapya

As the walkthrough comes to an end, Tandel leads us to the vividly coloured Sea of Relation, explaining how the interactive space invites visitors to touch and explore different marine forms which in a way offers a more playful way to engage with the underwater world that runs through the exhibition.

Coloured stainless-steel wire, polyester and cotton threads represent the different communities within Koli culture, with blue symbolising Ambedkarites, yellow representing haldi (turmeric),and green denoting Islam

A sea slug made from Habur stone, a fossil-rich material from an ancient seabed in Jaisalmer, combines marine forms with cast oil pipes to explore petrochemical extraction, geological time and the changing Koli coastline

Till October 17; 11 am
At TARQ, Ground Floor, KK (Navsari) Chambers, Fort.
Entry FREE

Sea of Relation is an interactive display featuring marine organisms including plankton, jellyfish, and sea slugs, made using silicone rubber, marine plywood and cotton fabric

Let's talk Koli

Works from Estuaries of Waning Sounds: Koli Dictionary Project, is where Tandel uses fishing nets, shells, knots and found materials to interpret Koli words. Among them are Garva, a type of hook-fishing technique; Baidul/Kavat/Gaboli, referring to egg sacks; and Devlu, a word whose meaning is yet to be identified.
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