North Goa’s Aldona village is getting used to being in and out of the news. Earlier this year, it turned heads for a massive R105-crore villa that was listed in the area. In the late 2000s, author Amitav Ghosh was considered the rustic village’s most famous resident. But before global literary heft reached Aldona, it was home to original residents, Avicennia alba, Kandelia candel, and Acrostichum aureum — aka the mangroves.

Alarmed by the gentrification of these ecosystems in their homeland, artists Wenceslaus Mendes, Satyam Malhar, Pradeep Naik, and Ashish Phaldesai have set out to remind us what we risk losing. “There is a disconnect between urban citizens and the mud. But when our actions come back to bite us — as we are seeing this monsoon — we’ll all be in the same boat,” says documentary filmmaker Mendes, who grew up between Goa and Mumbai.