Between the Sea and the Sky, Who Holds the Ground?

Media _ Archival ink pen on paper, Acrylic colour, Gold and Silver leaf _ Size_ 86 x 942 cm _ Year _ 2024 – 2025

This ten meter long scroll is a meditation on the fragile threads that connect humans, animals, and the environment—a reflection on care, culture, and climate. Over nine months, I traced rivers, forests, creatures, and humans, weaving together stories of survival, migration, and the often-unseen lives that shape our world.
On the right, rivers merge to form the Bengal Delta, carrying seeds, fish, and humans. Life flows, shifts, and responds to human choices. Displaced elephants wander across treetops. Birds, insects, and animals move through decaying and fertile landscapes, reminding us of resilience, vulnerability, and interdependence. Golden skies, playful figures, and fleeting moments of love and joy exist alongside warnings of impermanence and fragility.
A central sphere of leaves holds the faces of humans and animals—some anxious, some serene—reflecting the Earth’s tensions and the intimate connections that sustain life. Boats, migrants, and bees travel through dark waters, embodying journeys of survival, courage, and persistence. Hidden roots, mangroves, and small insects remind us of the quiet, vital work that nurtures ecosystems, often unseen yet essential.
Throughout the scroll, moments of care, play, reflection, and absurdity coexist with warnings and loss. Small gestures—a cow looking for her companion, a child carrying a baby elephant, or bees transforming into ants—invite viewers to look closer, pause, and reflect.
This work does not prescribe answers. Instead, it asks questions: Who holds the ground? How do our choices ripple across lives, species, and generations? What does care look like in a changing world? I invite you to enter, linger, and let your own imagination weave through these interconnected stories.