This series encourages you to notice more in your every day, look at your life and surroundings with fresh eyes.

There are probably better shells to be found, better untouched beaches to collect them.

Why these shells?
Why this beach?

I’ve been coming to this beach since before I lived on its shore. Racing to catch a sunrise over the sea from a 30 minute drive away.
Here, rather than a closer seaside spot. I can’t clearly remember why.
The area has a feeling that appeals to me.

These shells… it’s something about cultivating an appreciation for the mundane things in everyday life, that only become mundane because they are always there or are found in abundance. It’s a pity that these qualities make them less valued, seen and appreciated.

You go to a new place and see their “mundane” things and it’s an amazing and fascinating experience because it’s new, to you.
Have you even really experienced the “mundane” things around you?
Or have you just adopted the jaded approach of others without appreciating them first?

This series encourages you to notice more in your every day – look at your life and surroundings with fresh eyes.

Look even closer – what do you see?
Describe it to yourself with words.
How does it make you feel?
Why do you feel that way about it?
Do you like it / dislike it / feel indifferent / calm / joyful / sad / nostalgic?
Why?

What the sea deposits on the shore changes daily.
I see an abundant shell deposit on the shore and think I’ll make time to explore it tomorrow… I need to get into work now.
Tomorrow it’s all gone.

There are tractors, quad bikes, boats and people that move along this shoreline.
With the combination of all these factors that affect the shells, the fact that a shell is there and visible and intact at the same time that I’m there and happen to see it, makes it feel serendipitous and special. One person walking past and stepping on it might have changed that. One strong wave coming in might have reclaimed it.
The specific recipe of things that happened in order for that moment to occur, between me and that shell, feels magical.

There is also something about the curation process.
I pick and choose the shells and rocks I want.

What is the criteria?
Simply that they appeal to me.

This could be for their colour, shape, texture or size. Ones that are new to me, that I haven’t come across before or don’t have in my collection are exciting. There are some that I’ve seen and collected before, but their beauty always makes me want to collect them still. There are others that are plain and simple and abundant, and there’s something special in that too. While they may be less exciting than an unusual new find, they are still acknowledged and appreciated.

Is it weird that I almost feel bad for the ones I don’t choose? Sometimes in my mind I acknowledge them and let them know it’s not because they aren’t special, and that being “chosen” to come with me is not necessarily better than being left in peace where they are.

There’s something in here about prejudice.
Painting a group of similars with the same brush
Not seeing individual qualities and value

Something ties into my own lifelong desire to be seen as an individual, for the unique combination of things that are me.
Not judged as “just another Indian girl” and attributed stereotyped qualities, something that was an active feeling for me when I was at school.

And yet I did / do have some of these stereotyped qualities on the surface – quiet, obedient, diligent, long hair, short, dark eyes, medium-dark brown skin…
Stereotypes originate from reality. Our brains like to categorise and put things in boxes, and that’s what this is. It’s too much to process and hold the multitudes and depth that each person carries. So we categorise and generalise and forget that’s not the whole story, and then are completely shocked when there are aspects of the stereotyped person that don’t conform to the stereotype.

Shells, hey.

The debut release of this ongoing series, Part 1, will be on display and available for sale at Andticks at Nine Yards, Johannesburg, from the 26th September to the 5th October 2026. A catalogue will be released for online sales – please sign up to the email list below for updates on releases and new collections. 

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Join me on my morning sessions at the beach
An ongoing collection of short videos from my morning sessions to give you an immersive feeling of the sights and sounds