Set in Aldona, North Goa, the project draws from the Khazan wetlands, a unique socio-ecological landscape shaped by tidal rhythms, biodiversity, and collective stewardship.
How can ecological engagement be made accessible without
reducing its complexity?
How do neurodivergent modes of perception reconfigure
what it means to relate to an environment?
What constitutes relationality across human, technological,
material, and ecological domains?
Roots and Nerves is a participatory ecological arts initiative based in the khazan landscapes of Aldona, Goa. Working with neurodivergent learners at The Owl House, it explores how sensory perception shapes our relationship with environment, and how different cognitive orientations can offer distinct ways of encountering ecology. Through guided excursions and practices of drawing, play, observation, and sensory repetition, learners form intimate relationships with landscape by attending closely to texture, sound, rhythm, movement, and material presence.
Grounded in Goa’s estuarine wetlands, where mangroves, agricultural fields, waterways, and human habitation remain deeply intertwined, the work approaches ecology as something lived and felt rather than simply studied or represented. At its core is an interest in relationality: how humans, animals, plants, objects, and technologies come into meaningful contact, and what becomes possible when we widen our understanding of perception and belonging.
The Owl House is a learning and community space in Aldona, Goa, for neurodivergent individuals, creating room for alternative rhythms of learning, expression, and relation.
Pakhi Sen
Pakhi is a visual artist, educator, and illustrator based in Goa. Her work moves across painting, comics, and participatory storytelling - exploring ecology, memory, and community through journaling and visual research. She also develops arts pedagogy with neurodiverse learners at The Owl House.
https://www.theowlhousegoa.org