Submissions | VizChitra 2026
Pokkali: Keystone of a Tidal Landscape
Shalini
Student •IIT Madras
Description
Pokkali is a saline-tolerant rice variety sustained by an agricultural practice that cycles rice cultivation with prawn and fish farming. It is vital to climate conservation: a strong blue carbon sink, resilient to tidal flooding, supportive of food diversity, host to dependent flora and fauna, and economically beneficial. This installation consists of a hanging wire-mesh form with resin work to evoke the ambience of water, under which are four large glass containers filled with miniature clay figurines that the visitors can interact with. Each container represents a different land-use scenario: a cultivated Pokkali field, an uncultivated Pokkali field, a conventional paddy field, and a former paddy landscape converted into urban space. The clay figurines represent ecosystemic, economic and cultural elements with the data deciding their numbers. The spine of the work is translating data on the richness of diversity into a tangible, digestible experience. The project arose from a simple bodily sensation: pushing a hand into a full bag of rice or lentils versus reaching into a near-empty container. The difference is immediately legible to the human psyche in a way that drives the data home. Because monetary benefit is often the most accessible lens to the real-world urban space, this work intentionally counters that default by making it one among many equally visible and material elements. Alongside the installation, a notebook of field notes and photographs gathered over the course of the project will be available for viewing. Within the exhibition framework, this proposal aligns most strongly with More-Than-Human data and Adaptation & Resilience.
Data Source
We will work with a mix of ecological, economic, and cultural data, collected through fieldwork in selected sites and secondary research. Ecological data will include biodiversity indicators (flora and fauna presence), and flooding history. These will be gathered through site visits, observation logging, and consultation with existing research on Pokkali ecosystems. Economic data will include yield patterns, and comparative value across Pokkali cultivation, conventional paddy farming, and converted field land. This will be sourced through interviews with select farmers, supported by published reports and documentation where available. Cultural data will include practices, narratives, and local knowledge around Pokkali cultivation and tidal living. This will be collected through interviews, and photographic documentation. Data will be translated into the installation through a consistent physical vocabulary: the number and variety of clay figurines in each container will map to the comparative richness of each scenario.
Technical Requirements
The installation requires four glass containers, each measuring 1.2 ft (L) × 1.2 ft (W) × 1.8 ft (H). These will be placed on a table or custom stand measuring approximately 5 ft (L) × 1.5 ft (W).
An additional 3 ft (L) × 1.5 ft (W) table is needed to display the figurine key and the project field notebook. The work also requires an overhead hanging system to suspend the wire-mesh and resin component.
Project Status & Timeline
This is a new proposal. The expected timeline is four months: March, April will focus on field visits, interviews, and early prototyping of the figurines. May, June will be dedicated to organizing the collected data, producing the final figurines, and finalizing installation logistics.