At first glance, Salted Caviar by Parag Tandel feels like a material study of the ocean. There are textures, fish motifs, references to water, and words that seem like translations. The works are abstract, beautiful, and deeply connected to the sea. But it is only when you hear the artist walk you through them that you see the relationship of the Koli community with time.
My understanding of Mumbai and the Koli community has always been shaped by the city as it exists today. This exhibit gave me an insight into how time and colonisation affected the original inhabitants of Mumbai.
Through an anthropological lens, Tandel explores the Koli community’s relationship with the ocean, tracing how its language, beliefs, traditions, and ways of life have evolved over time. The works look at the community from within, but also question how it has been understood by outsiders, and how colonisation has shaped the meaning of its identity.
One of the first things the exhibition explores is language, and the things that get lost in translation. Using yarn and other materials, Tandel creates a visual interpretation of a spider, drawing attention to the origins of the word ‘Koli’, which is associated with the community’s colonial-era naming. He also explores words that carry meaning specific to the community and cannot be translated so easily. ‘Garva’, for instance, refers to a traditional fishing technique that uses a hook. It underlines how much of a community’s knowledge and identity can be lost when its language is interpreted through a colonial lens.
From language, the exhibition moves into belief and religion. ‘Salt Shrine’ explores how the Koli community’s relationship with worship has evolved over time, from spiritual connections with nature to the influence of organised religion and colonial encounters. Through yarn and colour, the works trace these shifting belief systems, examining how the community’s religious practices have transformed through colonisation and the passage of time.
Tandel also touches on the political struggle of the community’s ongoing struggle with industrialisation and the petrochemical industries that occupy spaces deeply connected to its history and livelihood. Tandel brings in material from Jaisalmer, a region associated with the ancient Jurassic sea, to explore the relationship between the ocean, natural resources, and the Koli community. The work draws a connection between the ocean as a source of life and the extraction of resources from it, raising questions about capitalism, ownership, and what happens when the very environment a community depends on becomes an industrial resource. The use of stone also brings the conversation back to the materials and tools associated with traditional fishing practices, connecting the geological history of the ocean to the lives shaped by it.
The exhibition also looks at the community’s relationship with technology, particularly the changing ways in which we use and occupy the ocean. In one series, Tandel reimagines traditional Koli recipes through the visual language of ocean cartography. He then takes these sketches into artificial intelligence, exploring how the technology interprets and transforms them. During the walkthrough, the artist spoke about underwater data centres as an inspiration for the work. There is something particularly interesting about this juxtaposition: a community that has always understood the ocean as home and livelihood, set against a future in which the same ocean becomes infrastructure for an increasingly digital world. What does it mean for technology to occupy a space that has long held its own knowledge, histories, and ways of life?
Salted Caviar is an exhibition that asks you to look closer, to understand the stories held within materials, and to consider how a community’s relationship with its surroundings changes over time.
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