Fisherman and the Sea: Photographic Series of
Subodh Kerkar 2008 to Present

Lina Vincent Sunish

As a medical doctor in a previous avatar, practicing a stone’s throw from the sea-shore, Subodh Kerkar had the opportunity to get to know the lives of fisher-folk at close quarters. He realised that their lives were deeply and inexorably intertwined with the rhythms of the ocean. Later, as he extended his arts practice, the ocean and the fishermen both became part of his inspiration and narrative subject. The moon and tides, the tools of the fishing trade, the sand and the sea, and articularly the glowing skins of the lithe bodies become mediums with which to explore stories of the shoreline.

He says about them, “The Ocean is not just the provider of fish, their existence is marinated by the ocean. Through my works I have tried to present this idea of inseparability of the fishermen and the sea. They form the fishbone, they become the boat. They sit in a circle and perform a sea-faring ritual. They follow a line as if they were going to a temple or church in procession. They stand along the shoreline to receive the blessings of the vast ocean.”