Parag Tandel
Parag Tandel出生於大孟買地區的Koli社區，他所居住的Chendani村被鹹水湖、淡水湖和紅樹林自然保護區環繞，它們得天獨厚的地理條件使豐富的兩棲類動植物生長。 Parag生活的地方Thane以“湖城”聞名，小溪環繞著方圓幾千米的紅樹林自然保護區，向西以Parsik邱為鄰，向東以yeor丘為鄰。兩座丘陵也是自然保護區，它們的中間高聳處形成了山谷，對於Thane地下物種的繁育十分有益。1853年，印度的第一條鐵路從孟買通行至Thane。此後Thane逐漸從一個小港口轉變成最大流通量之一的船運港。其中大部分商販利用此港口進行貿易往來，捕魚作為他們貿易的重要來源，不過也不局限於此。Parag的祖先作為海上貿易者，在英國統治時期，曾經橫跨孟買省的海岸線進行進出口的漁貨貿易。
Parag的童年是在這些熟悉的水域裡度過的－駕駛船隻、捕魚、在岩縫裡游泳、蒐集發現的奇妙生物、抓螃蟹和在山上捕捉鳥類。他曾經在紅樹林生態保護區、稻米田和芒果園居住，並深深迷戀這些日常的田園美景。 Parag的家庭致力於自由抗爭運動，他的祖父是一個聞名的自由鬥士，所以他可以很自然地理解反社會政客對於自由抗爭會表現地如此漠不關心的原因。 Parag的社區自1853年鐵路開通以來，大孟買都市區開始形成，幾乎所有的居民對於城市開發湧現的新鮮商機感到欣喜，小社區就這樣城市化了。
Parag對於藝術實踐的需要是相對產生的，曾經發現無數的風景變遷，在城市化中很多動植物突然絕跡，轉變太多，例如生活方式、語言、文化與環境等等。 Parag曾經記錄用雕刻、繪畫、裝置藝術和社會領域下這些轉變，同時將國際遷移與聚居以帶著詩意的詞彙情景化，運用口述歷史、寓言、經驗、圖像表現複雜的意涵。他的創作是精彩的，能夠使旁觀者更加了解並且能進行友好的討論，討論以分享歷史的方式，從當代的方式和觀點出發，談及自身並擴展到公眾介入作結。
Parag的藝術實踐從他面對和經歷的事物中萌生。從他自己的所處環境和熟悉的風景，當思考介入這些當代的空間和形式時，總會產生靈感。利用簡單、來自於童年的事物，他的作品強調幾十年間發生在自己生活社區中的改變。創作的過程展示自然的變遷以及一些孟買不均衡與無歸劃發展結果下的倖存地。每天的資料和形式標示著自己的成長，彰顯自己的創作。創作的養分來源於使用無加工的材料並循環利用，建造新的實體建築，在歷史中反思當代社會與自身所處的社群。 Parag聽編年史長大，編年史之於他如寓言一般存在。這些寓言開始成為謎團，它們轉化為我們腦中想像的、相似的殘留結構。對於Parag而言，不僅是在實踐中的一個突破口，也是一種建立聯結的方式。
Parag持續挑戰傳統的思考模式。即便使用傳統媒材，也會透過其個人感知去運用這些材料。過去幾年他曾經研究與其自身非常相關、真實、概念化的資料，在進行十分強調嚴謹精確的計畫前會深思熟慮，甚至將失敗的可能也考慮進去。他的主題是參與式的，有時需要人們的協助。對於他自己來說，當向旁觀者呈現一個內容的基本問題時，了解圖像必不可少。人們需要從他觀察社區來想像去刷新對於世界的認識。有時候你遇到失敗，還是要繼續努力，失敗能夠讓其理解自己所處的環境。
2018年，Parag Tandel受 Piramal Art Foundation 推薦，於5月1日起至竹圍工作室駐村30天。
駐村作品
Salt of ocean, Salt as portion,
Moon attached in the midst of ocean.
Water in pan will turn into salt soon.
They disappeared, salt pan into woods,
Soon I will transform into concrete woods.
Sir. Sun god is meeting Mr. Moon to discuss about mysterious dark matters.
“Dark water is not listening to me sir”,
“Ask Barnacles and Corals to clean”,
“Ask Mangrove forest to clean”
“Ask water to clean water”,
“Ask clouds to clean, faster !!”,
“You know Sir they all are sell-fish”;
“Mister Moon, is there anything fishy going on ?; Then ask fish to clean it”,
“Sir we should call fisherman, he is the only hope”,
“I am no more Fisherman,
“Sssssssstop you fool little Chanda mama or I shall disconnect your shine which is mine”,
“Mister Moon this is time of extinction”,
“Mister fishyman I have task for you”,
“We need your help to dry the fishes, save them all as much as you can, as soon as as possible”;
“Mister Moon call his sisters they can do this soon”
“Mister Moon we are nearly doomed, enlighten them or I will fight with them”.
“I am frightened Sir, fruit of Eden had given them knowledge.
“Ask Lord Vishnu to take away knowledge and He was base of all resources during Samudra Manthana”.
“Take all resources back”.
“Sir what about me”
“Mister Moon we need to save everything before Lord Shiva the destroyer, destroys everything”
“Sir we can ask Lord Bramha the creator to create once again”
“Call Matzu, we need to seat on Table and have discuss about Dark waters”
“But sir”
“We need to restart again”
“My dear Moon process has already begin”
“Disconnect everything!! Yes, everything and mumify every bit of it”
- Parag Kashinath Tandel
駐村心得：
This was my first International art residency program, BCS as residency is a very important residency in South East Asia, I came to BCS through the Collaborative initiative of Piramal Art Residency, Mumbai, India. If you as an artist are really passionate about your art practice. BCS is very important place to enrich your inner being, BCS staff team works really hard on connecting you to city’s Art happenings and related communities, but I really feel it's also artist responsibility what you can give to spaces like BCS. I took a lot of perspectives and insights from BCS which are helping me to develop my further art practice. The most influential thing about BCS is their Garbage processing section, this residency is very environmentally conscious, and it is very important to understand how to handle our resources. It was good to exchange ideas.
BCS being the oldest and topmost International residency in South East Asia they have a big family around the world. And daily someone hops in BCS. And it a great feeling to interact and exchange and reach out to the world.
