एक बग़ल में चाँद होगा एक बग़ल में रोटियाँ (One Side Lies The Moon, On The Other Side Lies)

Mummy of fish.

Title:एक बग़ल में चाँद होगा एक बग़ल में रोटियाँ (One Side Lies The Moon, On The Other Side Lies)_2018_Medium: Public art project_Description: Project is a socially engaged sculpture , it is regarding a change of livelihood in Mumbai's Koli (fishermen) community. I observed shift of occupation within the daily life of eleven Koli women from Chendani Koliwada (fishing village) in Thane (a central suburb of Mumbai) who have taken on new trade of Rice roti (Indian Bread) making, project initiates with competition of biggest diameter Rice Roti (Indian bread) and revival of old lost dried fish recipes. Later they did a performance of mummification as an preserved evidence of loss and , I had treasured few found materials from nearby river creek which were exhibited in open art space. Handwritten recipes were recorded in manuscript by Women from Koliwada, I did few drawings on the loss of ecology around village in this manuscript.

Ek Bagal Mein Chand Hoga Ek Bagal Mein Rotiyan

12 Nov 2017| Hariyali lake.

Parag Tandel & Chendani Koliwada invite you to Ek Bagal Mein Chand Hoga Ek Bagal Mein Rotiyan (One Side Lies The Moon, On The Other Lies The Bread). As the title suggests, the project begins by looking closely at the two faces of the moon. It refers to the Koli (fishermen) community's dependance on the moon, to the literal and symbolic meanings attached to it today, when local livelihoods and traditions are on the verge of extinction.

In an effort to reverse this sense of loss and drying of indigenous resources, trades, and ecosystems, the women of Chendani fishing village and myself are starting the city’s first Dry Seafood Recipe Contest. Drying infers loss, yet the action itself suggests the need to preserve. Taking a spin on the word and the action, the fishermen dry up to 33 species of fish, which are then fried, pickled or cooked as fast-food meals, reviving recipes that are no longer in use because the diversity of fish available for drying are fast becoming extinct.

13 dishes once cooked by grandmothers will return to Koli kitchens. They will be served at the contest & judged by the entire village! On this occasion, the women and I will present an archive of recipes, a manuscript recording the survival of these dishes and carrying personal narratives, memories and illustrations of a landscape that has succumbed to pressures of uncontrolled growth. To accompany the manuscript, the community will launch an exhibition dedicated to the processes and rituals involved in mummifying fish.

The project thus becomes a symbolic chronicler of the past. When human memory is provoked, the past starts to attain fable-like qualities. They become myth buried beneath the residues of our minds. And for us to move forward, it’s the only way to fill the gaps.

Ek Bagal Mein Chand Hoga Ek Bagal Mein Rotiyan begins at 6pm with the exhibition launch & dinner (hariyali lake, balaji boating & fisheries, Anand bharti marg, Chendani koliwada, 1-min from Thane E station).

The exhibition will be on view till 18 November 2017 from 4-9pm (khule kala dalan (open art gallery), jetty road, ashtavinayak chowk, near valmiki nagar, Thane E).

About the Artist | Parag Tandel comes from a family of fishermen in Greater Mumbai, Thane. His practice is deeply influenced by his background, whose roots are entrenched in the history of Mumbai, its changes both economic and ecological. He uses sculpture & drawing to monitor the transition of his community, affected and transformed by persistent and reckless alterations of their natural and built environment. In his work, sea creatures undergo fantastical transmutations, landscapes are broken into tiny particles & boundaries between land and sea are no longer visible. Everything exists in a mythical universe, never extinct, always surviving.

Text by Parag Tandel (artist) and Leandre D’Souza (Curator).

For ‘Encounters: Daily Ration 2017’

Woman making Rice Roti (Indian bread)