Altodi Poltodi / This shore That shore

A collaborative work with Savyasachi. 

It began with the story of Rakhondars, spirit-protectors in Goa, and asking around about them. In the process, we were often confronted by the question of insider-outsider politics in Goa. The mythical spirit protector protects the 'inside' from 'outside' exploitation and walks along the periphery of the village to keep watch every night. We were thinking about that invisible dividing line through our own experiences and about what we could gather from people who still carry these myths within themselves. Eventually, our research took the form of an installation and an essay.  - Rai and Savyasachi. 

The installation was placed in Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, supported by the Goa Open Arts' Catalyst Grant in 2021. It was a cluster of four islands and their reflected shadow world. The audience could move around them in a circular path – metaphorically put in the shoes of Rakhondars circumambulating peripheries of villages. The landscape was altered each time they built or broke structures within these islands and the shadows of these alterations were cast on the four walls of the gallery space.

Link to the exposition on Research Catalogue.