Nanavu: a silent comic on Kochi’s tidal floodscape
Athulya Pillai’s silent 28-page comic Nanavu portrays Kochi’s coastal flooding through imagery and emotion, based on field visits and fieldwork in 2025. The work foregrounds resilience amid repeated inundation while expanding her storytelling style.
Key takeaways
- Nanavu is a 28-page silent comic about Kochi’s coastal flooding.
- The work uses multiple panels and a dialogue-less narrative to express residents’ experiences.
- Field visits and collaborations with climate-focused initiatives informed the project.
What Happened
Athulya Pillai, a Kochi-born illustrator, produced Nanavu, a 28-page silent comic that depicts the tidal flooding experienced by residents of Kochi’s coastal areas. The narrative relies on imagery rather than dialogue, illustrating flooded homes, local life, and community documentation of floods. Pillai’s process involved field visits to Ezhikkara, with inspiration tracing back to collaborations with Common Ground India and a field liaison with Equinoct, a Kochi-based modeling firm. The project marks a shift from Pillai’s earlier, shorter-frame approach to a format with more panels, paired with a storytelling method that begins with written dialogue before translating it into visuals.
The book’s visual palette emphasizes powder blue tones and scenes of shrimp farms, Pokkali fields, the moon, and tides, conveying how inhabitants monitor natural cycles to anticipate floods. Nanavu is published by Studio Niyat and is available at Mehrab Book Store.
Why It Matters
The work presents tidal flooding as a daily reality for coastal communities in Kerala, highlighting the social and emotional impact beyond physical damage. By choosing a silent format, Nanavu aims to convey the silences and unspoken experiences of residents during floods, while documenting local practices of tracking tides and moon phases to prepare for inundation.
Background
Pillai’s background includes a degree in Retail and Exhibition Design from MIT, Pune. After time in Ladakh working with artificial glaciers, she moved to Kochi and began engaging with climate and coastal themes, which led to Nanavu. Prior to Nanavu, she published Yangdol (2021) and Eldo, both co-authored with Pankaj Singh, which explored different regional and psychological themes. Her field activities in Kochi were connected to Common Ground India and KaBhumM, a climate-driven art initiative active in 2025.
Key Facts
- Nanavu is a silent, 28-page comic about tidal flooding in Kochi.
- The work departs from Pillai’s usual short-frame style by using more panels.
- Field visits included Ezhikkara, identified as a severely affected region, and collaborations with Common Ground India and Equinoct.
- The book uses a powder-blue palette featuring shrimp farms, Pokkali fields, the moon, and tides.
- Nanavu is published by Studio Niyat and available at Mehrab Book Store.
- Publication date noted: August 21, 2026, with local timing given as 01:35 pm IST.
- Pillai’s prior works include Yangdol (2021) and Eldo, both co-authored with Pankaj Singh.
What Happens Next
The source notes Nanavu’s availability at a local bookstore, suggesting potential further distribution or readings in Kochi or nearby communities. No additional scheduled events or releases are listed in the provided material.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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