Following a fading line

From Chennai to Gokarna, a survey of India’s coastline reveals a diverse and fascinating landscape, changing fast due to the country’s growing industrialization: here are some of its multi-layered stories. A photo-essay from Gokarna by Selvaprakash via DOMUS

Cochin, Kerala, India. Sea wall

The coastline of India is 7500 kilometres long and there are nearly 250 million people living within a distance of about 20 kilometres from the shore. This massive expanse of linear land comprehends a wide variety of ecosystems, cultural and culinary traditions, fishing practices and natural resources. It is a diverse and fascinating landscape that tells the story of thousands of years of negotiation and cohabitation between man and nature. The fast growing industrialisation, however, is transforming the coast into an increasingly anthropised landscape and the balance of this ancient dialogue is quickly changing — with dramatic costs for both the people and the environment.

Koodankulam, Tamil Nadu, India. Fishermen protest near the proposed nuclear plant on World Fisheries Day. Local fishermen contributed money from their meagre daily earnings to support this protest against the nuclear plant

Selvaprakash has started his project of documentation of this fading world in 2008. He has travelled from Chennai to Gokarna to record the multi-layered stories that the Indian coastline tells. From the protests against the establishment of a nuclear plant in Koodankulam to the devastating consequences of the cyclone Thane on 30 December 2011, Selvaprakash’s photography grants care and attention to the details of a complex human and political narrative.

Ennore,Tamil Nadu, India. The sea is extremely violent in this area. A woman looks at the angry waters from her partially destroyed house

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