Screened at Kondal’s Art and Photography Exhibition held at Lalit Kala Akademi on June 11, Arts from the Sea, exploring gendered work in fishing, the overlooked pressures of poverty on women’s bodies and the social barriers that seem to keep fishermen away, the documentary often sparked conversation.
The film opens in Chinnapalam, a fishing village near Dhanushkodi, where women fish in groups, pull nets with their male counterparts, are seaweed divers, fishmongers and vendors. When the annual fishing ban is imposed to allow marine life to replenish, many women turn to NGO-led initiatives that train and organize them to produce seafood pickles, providing a vital source of income during the lean season. “While women have long been involved in fishing, from cleaning, marketing and selling, their involvement is not so much reported, let alone women jumping into the sea,” Madhan said while discussing the film at the screening.
