Contours of Loss
PALLIKARANAI 1965 - 2025
Contours of Loss presents a spatial dialogue between the landscapes of 1965 and 2025, tracing the profound transformation of the Pallikaranai watershed under the pressures of urbanisation. Through layered textures and contrasting forms, the artwork reveals the gradual disappearance of agricultural lands, the fragmentation and shrinkage of wetlands, and the extensive quarrying that has scarred the Tirisulam Hills. The once expansive Pallikaranai Marsh, a vital ecological commons, is shown giving way to roads, settlements, urban infrastructure and waste disposal sites. By juxtaposing these two moments in time, the work serves as both a cartographic record and an ecological testimony, exposing the scale and intensity of landscape change while questioning the costs of development borne by fragile ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
