Tsunamika, the voice of the oceans

In 2004 the tragedy of the tsunami birthed a child: ‘Tsunamika’. She was made from scrap material sewed into small, three-inch dolls, by women from local fishing villages whose lives had been affected by the tsunami. Additionally they were part of a gift economy, branching out of the Mother’s vision of a collectively shared prosperity. She caught the spirit of wishing for something positive post-tsunami and was widely featured in the Indian media. Beyond that, they were eye-catching and each one was unique. They helped transform the horror of the tsunami devastation into something uplifting. To date, six million hand-made dolls have been distributed in over eighty countries.

Recently Upasana, the conscious fashion unit founded by Uma Haimavati from which Tsunamika was born, organised a company retreat to brainstorm the next steps. Upasana had been following the work of the National Coastal Protection Campaign whose former head used to joke that Tsunamika should become the voice and mascot of ocean protection in India. Now fifty of Uma’s company workers came up with the same message. The new incarnation for Tsunamika would be to protect our oceans. “Her growth from a small doll to the child campaigning to save our seas and in fact ourselves, reflects the needs of our times which the village workers were receptive to,” says Uma. “So far Tsunamika had never spoken, she was a quiet girl. Everybody loved and called her ‘doll’ but in her second avatar she has chosen to speak. She has taken the consciousness and form of an 8-10 year old girl. Her message is that the ocean is not just by the beach but a part of our life and that “if the ocean lives, we live”. She is an archetype with heart and love and care for everybody. We didn’t want to paint a horror picture of what is happening in ocean, but to make it a love story.” 

Tsunamika is still being made by the villagers of six nearby coastal fishing communities. When asked how the workers who make Tsunamika have changed over the last fifteen years, Uma replied: “They are so different, so empowered. When on the retreat they talked of the new avatar of Tsunamika, nobody in the group said it will give them more money. They talked of Tsunamika being the voice of ocean protection; they were thinking so big. They could have suggested something else. It shows the growth of community, how they have held the deeper awareness of what’s going on. And now a second generation has joined; girls come saying that they remember their mum making Tsunamikas when they were children and now they wish to do the same”.

It has become clear in recent years that the oceans are at crisis point. Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet’ series for the BBC woke millions up to the overwhelming levels of plastic in our seas. There are huge plastic islands in the Pacific. Films such as ‘Albatross’ have shown how plastic is killing fish, birds and other fauna and, ultimately, life worldwide. We need imaginative and original solutions to the killing of our environment. 

Tsunamika’s message of caring for the ocean, stopping rubbish polluting the seas, is one way of the many needed for us to change because business as usual isn’t working. Tsunamika’s resurgence is allied to a wider global awakening to the serious challenges of our unconscious over-consumption and the need to take action to acknowledge, address and ultimately rectify the overwhelming pollution of our society. 

The new campaign has three aspects: two books, a movie and upcycling work. In the first book, Tsunamika is coming out of the ocean post-tsunami to meet her human friends. In book two she has gone to the ocean and is horrified at all the garbage being dumped in it: “my house is full of your rubbish, will you give me my home back?” As Uma pointed out, “We wanted to treat this serious subject in a very emotional way.” 

There is also a movie. A friend’s daughter, Anika, became Tsunamika and they filmed on the beach with a young film maker. The underwater shots were animated.

Thirdly, Upasana collaborated with Auroville artists from Upcycling Studio to create two art installations on the theme of ocean protection which will be in the Visitors Centre for a month and also in Upasana. Tsunamika is made from recycled scrap but there is no such thing as waste in nature. “That’s why we promote upcycling, so that we don’t have to dump it into the ocean. We are using art as a form of mass communication and social activism.” Dr. Kiran Bedi, the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, is among those who are very supportive of the new project. She launched the book and movie on 21 September, World Clean-up Day.

Fifteen years on, the Tsunamikas are still distributed as part of the gift economy. Uma adds, “Tsunamika carries on giving, whether we receive anything in return or not. Her way of being animates me, and she animates many other people, too.”