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The Salt in the Veins (2018 to ongoing)
This body of work is an ethnographic exploration of the lived realities across five fishing villages spanning the rugged coastlines of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Through this series, I examine the symbiotic, often spiritual, tether that binds the fishing communities to the sea—a relationship defined not by ownership, but by a precarious and profound belonging. In these communities, the Arabian Sea is not merely a resource or a backdrop; it is a primary protagonist.
The shoreline is a theater of power, and its most formidable actors are the women. In the coastal economy of Maharashtra and Karnataka, the men may navigate the waves, but the women command the land. In the marketplace, their voices become a rhythmic, aggressive percussion—a sharp-witted negotiation that ensures the sea’s bounty is translated into the family’s survival.
Watching from the periphery are the children, for whom the Arabian Sea is the ultimate playground and first teacher. For these children, the sea is an infinite horizon of possibility. They grow up with salt in their hair and sand in their pockets, developing an innate ecological literacy that anchors their identity to the water long before they ever step onto a boat.