As we experience Parag Tandel’s new exhibition, Khari Gaboli/Salted Caviar at TARQ, the first story he tells us is about Maan Kapya, a headless figure from Konkani folklore. Tandel laughs as he recalls how the story stayed with him. “The story dates back to our childhood, when adults would invoke Maan Kapya to keep children away from the roads and the seashore after dark,” he says. It is an unusual introduction, but one that quickly sets the tone for an exhibition rooted in memory, coastal ecology, labour, and the lived histories of the Koli community.

Original untitled image from Vitamin-Sea Archives: Sediments of Intelligence along with its colourful AI-enabled version