Mumbai Koli Project Exhibition: Where the City Meets the Sea

Photographs, stories, recipes, and fragments of lived experience gathered through the Mumbai Koli Project were brought to life through an exhibition held in Mumbai.
Designed as an intimate walk-through space, the exhibition invited visitors to listen, read, and spend time with the people, places, and everyday practices that shape Mumbai’s fishing communities. All photos by Nidhi Jacob.
Designed as an intimate walk-through space, the exhibition invited visitors to listen, read, and spend time with the people, places, and everyday practices that shape Mumbai’s fishing communities. All photos by Nidhi Jacob.

The launch of the exhibition Where the City Meets the Sea at G5A Warehouse in Mumbai marked the culmination of a campaign that we, at The Locavore, began in August 2025. The Mumbai Koli Project aimed to bridge the growing distance between those who eat seafood, and the communities that harvest the sea for a living—the Koli fisherfolk of Mumbai. Our hope was to reflect how deeply connected the Koli community is to the sea and shore, while highlighting traditional as well as modern practices of fishing, and the joys and turmoils that run through their work. It remains special for the team at The Locavore for many reasons: this was the first time we brought our work, which remains largely digital, into a public space, and curated an art exhibition with care, but also because we remained committed to foregrounding the community members who helped us shape this in the months past. 

The evening was designed as an exhibition-led gathering with a simple purpose: to share the work, centre the community members involved, and create space for conversation between residents of the city, and its original inhabitants—the Koli fisherfolk.

The exhibition was part of the Mumbai Koli Project, the official impact campaign of the documentary Against the Tide, led by The Locavore in close collaboration with Sarvnik Kaur, Ganesh Nakhawa, and Sonia Parekh, and supported by Doc Society’s Climate Story Fund. 

The Mumbai Koli Project carries the film’s questions beyond the screen through on-ground engagement with the Koli fisherfolk through reporting, guided walks across koliwadas, shared meals, recipe documentation, and ongoing dialogue.

The afternoon, which began in The Study at G5A with the exhibition viewing, was followed by community-led conversations on The Terrace. 

Exhibition Viewing

Installed in The Study at G5A Warehouse, ‘Where the City Meets the Sea’ brought together photographs, first-person stories, editorial excerpts, fish documentation, and home-tested recipes for audience members to spend time with.

Team members from The Locavore (from left to right) Zainab Kapadia, Nabilah Noorani, Oishika Roy, ChefTZac, Mukta Patil, and Harshita Lalwani, after setting up the exhibition space.

The installations focused on and displayed the work that was created, but also looked at how it unfolded across months—through walks, conversations, and the relationships that shaped what could be documented. Community members were presented as knowledge holders and collaborators rather than subjects. 

For example, the showcase displayed excerpts from the lived realities of Rakesh Koli and Ganesh Nakhawa, protagonists of the documentary film Against the Tide, directed by Sarvnik Kaur.

Rakesh Koli capturing excerpts from photographs featuring his everyday life, seen here with his partner Devyani.
Koli community leader Rajhans Tapke reading about Ganesh Nakhawa’s work.
Snippets from the film ‘Against the Tide’

The work displayed also included stories from the series Everyday Locavores—visual essays that foreground the labour involved in harvesting and processing seafood, including ice-making, searching for clams and oysters in intertidal zones, and the drying of fish.

Koli fisherwoman Ratna, who harvests clams and oysters for a living, standing against a placard featuring her along with her cousin Alka.
Sagar Hamav, who works at an ice factory in Versova, with his story, showing his place of work.

Food appeared here as everyday knowledge rather than service or spectacle. The project highlighted specific, lesser-known fish species central to Koli cooking but often absent from mainstream narratives around food. Informed by species documentation from InSeason Fish and conversations with fishers and cooks, the fish spotlights and recipes reflected what is caught seasonally and how decisions around cooking, selling, or preserving fish shift with weather, availability, and price. Together, these materials brought ecology, livelihood, and the kitchen together in a practical, lived way.

Find all the recipes and stories curated for the Mumbai Koli Project here.

Community-led Conversations

The core of the evening involved moderated conversations with members of the Koli community featured in the project, together with the researchers and volunteers who worked alongside them. 

The series of conversations began with Ganesh Nakhawa, Rakesh Koli, and Sarvnik Kaur sharing the process of filming Against the Tide as well as stories about their evolving friendship. 

Ganesh Nakhawa, Rakesh Koli, and Sarvnik Kaur, who directed ‘Against The Tide’, speaking about the themes that emerged through the documentary, including the tensions between small-scale traditional fishing and modern techniques, climate change, and pressures from coastal development.

This was followed by a discussion on Koli food practices and recipes curated through the Mumbai Koli Project. Bhavesh Koli, culinary volunteer with the Mumbai Koli Project, spoke to ChefTZac about memories of Koli food and anecdotes around family recipes. A civil engineer by education, Bhavesh founded Mi Hi Koli in 2011—a Mumbai-based restaurant dedicated to traditional Koli cuisine.

Bhavesh Koli (left) is the founder of Mi Hi Koli—a restaurant in Mumbai dedicated to traditional Koli cuisine.
Audience members listen in as ChefTZac speaks to Bhavesh Koli about Koli cooking.

The evening concluded with members from the Koli community sharing their experiences with us. 

Rajhans Tapke, one of founding members of the Versova Koli Seafood Festival, and the editor of Koli newspaper Sagar Shakti, spoke about the history of the Koli community in Mumbai, and the contributions they have made and continue to make to the evolving fabric of the city. 

Rajhans is also a member of the National Association for Fishermen, but at his core remains an activist, speaking on the wide range of problems faced by the Kolis. 

Sagar Hamav and Ratna—both of whom were featured as part of the Mumbai Koli Project—shared intrinsic details of their livelihoods, whether it was oyster harvesting or ice-making. This made audience members realise why such occupations are becoming more and more precarious as climate change and development transform the landscape in which the fisherfolk work. 

The writers and photographers who worked on documenting these pieces, including Sarthak Chand, Gautam Doshi, Vanshika Gupta, and Sharvin Jangle, spoke about their experience of learning more about the Koli community and the changing space they occupy in the city.

Harsha Tapke speaks about why he began organising the Versova Koli Seafood Festival, and why food remains intrinsic to the Koli identity. Sharvin Jangle, an editorial volunteer, acted as the translator for the session.
Ratna shares her struggles with oyster and clam harvesting as a livelihood, as catch size reduces in quantity and quality. She is in conversation with Vanshika Gupta and Gautam Doshi, editorial volunteers for the project.
Sagar Hamav, worker at an ice-factory in Versova, in conversation with editorial volunteer Sarthak Chand.

Testimonials

Kalyan Karmarkar, food and travel writer 

“I had learnt a bit about the Kolis through my work as a food writer. Listening to their stories made me realise how little I knew, and it has motivated me to find out more and to share what I learn. I was in awe of the work done by young folks behind the Mumbai Koli Project. Attending the event gave me the clarity I sought work-wise, and inspired me to focus on covering community based, grassroots food storytelling—street food, family-run places, home chefs, and hyperlocal, regional stories.”

Rakesh Koli, Koli fisherman, protagonist of ‘Against the Tide’

“We work extremely hard—in harsh winds, under a harsh sun. No one understands this effort, except for the Koli people. Consumers wonder why fish is so expensive, because they can’t see this work. But today, seeing all this before me, I feel proud.” 

Sharvin Jangle, architect, editorial volunteer with the Mumbai Koli Project

“This event remains very special to me. It made me realise how important it is to translate these voices, to engage the audience with what our larger stance is, as a community of fishers. I also felt moved when Ratna spoke about the joys of the everyday, especially around festivals, and inviting us to celebrate Holi. I think we don’t talk enough about joy as a way of revolting, because these communities know their way around struggle. I loved the engagement of the audience—they seemed to be very interested and sensitive.” 

Sarvnik Kaur, Director, ‘Against The Tide’

“As ice makers, oyster collectors, Koli leaders, and community members shared their stories, work, and perspectives, the city listened. What stayed with me most was the joy and privilege of witnessing a collaboration that brought together so many people across generations and disciplines. I was particularly moved by the young Koli photographers and storytellers who became part of the project, and by the team at The Locavore, whose care and vision created space for contributors to tell their stories from within, on their own terms.

The exhibition brought their work to life. It celebrated not only Ganesh and Rakesh, but the many Kolis whose everyday labour, resilience, and dignity have sustained Mumbai’s coast for generations.”

Dinner at Mahim Seafood Plaza

The event was followed by informal conversations between audience members and speakers, after which seafood lovers moved to the Mahim Seafood Plaza for dinner.

Attendees, community members, volunteers, and ChefTZac, enjoying a variety of fish including surmai and crab legs with bhakri at the Mahim Koliwada Seafood Plaza. All photos of the Seafood Plaza by ChefTZac.

A Glimpse Into the Event

Our venue partner G5A Warehouse in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, is a non-profit organisation for contemporary art and culture, encouraging experimental and independent arts practices.  Our gratitude to Anuradha Parikh, Maya, Siddesh Masurkar, and Ishan Benegal for their support. 

We remain, as always, grateful to Ratna, Sagar Hamav, Rakesh Koli, Ganesh Nakhawa, Harsha Tapke, and all the members of the Koli community who worked with us and  were unable to make it. Thank you for your time and patience. 

A big thank you also, to our volunteers—Sharvin Jangle, Vanshika Gupta, Sarthak Chand, Gautam Doshi, Rujuta Kumbhojkar, and Priyansha Divecha— without whose work and commitment none of this would have seen the light of day. 

A special mention to Sarthak Chand, who helped us realise our vision for the exhibition: right from designing the layout of the room, to printer visits and eventually displaying the work.

The Mumbai Koli Project is the official impact campaign of the Against the Tide documentary, led by The Locavore in close collaboration with Sarvnik Kaur, Ganesh Nakhawa, and Sonia Parekh. It is supported by the Doc Society’s Climate Story Fund which enables independent media storytelling and impact strategies from around the world.