Sea God

The young couple Manu and Madhvi Parekh first lived by the sea—in Bombay—between 1962 and 1964, but the creatures of the ocean kept appearing in her works till much later, often to educate their young daughters Manisha and Deepa. This work was made towards the last years of the family’s stay in Calcutta (1964-75), a city that has left a profound impact on the art of both husband and wife. It is a mesmerising rendition of the aqueous ecosystem around a sea god, depicted as a powerful, stolid, three-legged being with four ears. The sea deity is surrounded by a tightly packed world of creatures, both of the land and the ocean, going about their lives contentedly as evident from the smiles on their faces.