Mali; Jal Jungle Zameen

2023 | Water, Termite hill clay, Farm soil, River soil, Rice husk, Beeswax, Datura plant leaves, Mild Steel, Sal wood, Rock coal, Brass, Galvanized steel, Tericot threads, Jute, Archival ink on Palm leaf

Parag Tandel’s sculptural installation is about the alchemy created by the convergence of Koli and Dhokra cultures, of coastal waters and plateau soils. It is made from various soils found in Chhattisgarh state’s forests and rivers. Transparency of process and materials used are integral to the artist’s vision, and Parag incorporates parts of the normally discarded earthen outer molds and inner cores, into the final form. They are visible through and on the vermicelli-like brass threads.

Parag has also archived folk foods by collaborating with adivasis from Bastar; these foods are indigenous to the forest soils from which the various clays have been harvested. The recipes are documented on palm leaves suspended on a circular ring – a food diary that the audience can look over. 

Mali is a folk form, a non-anthropocentric icon, and a cultural archive of the biological time, botanical time, and geological time of this hyper-local material culture – an archaeological site that unravels layers of human consumption.

Project support: Mr Bhupen Jaidev Baghel (Dhokra Art center, Bastar division); Mrs Sagro Bhupen Baghel, Mrs Lata Jaidev Baghel, Ms Neelam Koram, Mr Bijay Parida, Shaunak Mahbubani, Kadambari Tandel and TARQ Mumbai.