Amrita Barua

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Productions, will lead to the creation of a work of speculative fantasy eco-fiction centred around the ecology of the tidal sluice networks in Goa. Amrita Barua is the Coordinator for this project. 

Ahmedabad-based Amrita Barua is a visual artist. She completed her graduation in Art History from Santiniketan and her Master's in Animation from the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. She is the recipient of the Fine Art Award from Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, the FICA and Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation Award and the Goa Open Arts Catalyst Grant. Her work has been part of shows, workshops and publications by Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, W139 and Het Nieuwe Institut in Amsterdam, NID in Ahmedabad, the Goa Open Arts Festival, the Kochi Biennale Comics Residency, Khoj Peers Share, Comixense and others. Given her experience she is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

According to oral tradition, the khazan lands (coastal wetlands of Goa) were reclaimed for cultivation about 4000 years ago - a living proof of the intimate knowledge people had of climate, tidal cycles, soil properties, fish species and coastal flora. The khazan fields in the Zuari and the Mandovi river basins which form a foodshed of Goa are irrigated by natural and manmade canals. These canals are connected by a network of sluice gates that help to regulate fishing activities. Without the presence or proper maintenance of the sluice gates the khazan lands would be flooded by saline water. 

There are about 750 sluice gates in Goa that are crucial to the khazan lands. In recent years, however, the protective shield of sluices has declined considerably. The expansion of roads along with the dump of waste and petroleum residues from barges, tankers and trawlers have heavily polluted the rivers and affected the drainage system near the towns. This water flows into the khazan lands with the tides. 

Over the past three years, Amrita has been researching into the tidal sluices, its architecture, maintenance and histories in the Goa region. She has been studying the sluice networks and the life around it through literary, photographic and oral histories connected to the sluice networks, and has slowly started to create her own personal archive centred on her research. This archive is being populated with stories, recordings, drawings, found objects, videos and so on. 

Drawing from this ongoing research, this project will create a work of fiction around an estuarine geography that is set in the future-past. The project will explore stories, materiality of the spaces, repair processes involved, tools and architecture of the sluices through intermedia works including drawing, writing, audio-visual materials, found objects and maps. Amrita will work on creating an artist book titled Ngan and Nilnil, woven around this theme. 

Ngan and Nilnil are abstract entities - the former impersonating the river and the latter, the ocean. Within the setting of an eco-fantasy, the fiction book is imagined as an account of Ngan’s way to Nilnil. This is about the place where the two meet and where the cycles of the moon channel their ebb and flow. The book will attempt to reflect on our perception of water and our relationship with water bodies in the time of chaotic weather shifts, positioning itself within the estuary. It is a liminal space, where the borders are unclear and always shifting with the tides. The river and the ocean are two widely different ecosystems and cultures. The meeting point of the outside and the inner-side is a massive repository of stories of crossings - both of exchanges and exploitation. This project will therefore attempt to understand their confluence from stories, songs, archives, found materials and personal experience. 

The outcomes from this project will be the artist book, a journal documenting the course of the project, and a website consisting of textual and audio-visual essays and a series of drawings. The Project Coordinator's deliverables to IFA along with the final report will be the artist book, a copy of the journal, essays and drawings, and a download of the website. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it brings together storytelling, myths, oral narratives and historical and current data to create a fictional work of eco-fantasy. In the recent years, IFA has implemented a few projects across its programmes that focus on the sensitive issues around the politics of water including impact of construction of dams on communities, pollution of water, water related ecological degradation and so on. This project will surely strengthen the reflections around water that is currently being generated through other artistic projects across the country.  

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees. 

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.