TRAJVA: A LIVING ARCHIVE
“Trajva: A Living Archive” is a poetic visual zine that reinterprets ancient Rabari
tattoo symbols through the lens of environmental collapse and intergenerational
memory.
Rooted in the nomadic traditions of the tribe in Gujarat, Trajva is a practice of forced tattooing on young girls, symbolizing protection and spiritual meaning.
This project uses those same symbols, now reimagined, to explore themes of climate grief, diaspora, and cultural erasure.
Centering my grandmother, who has Trajva and an incredible green thumb, I connect her spiritual and ecological knowledge to the contemporary climate crisis.
Set between Southern California and Gujarat, landscapes affected by extreme environmental changes, the zine avoids diaspora cliché and instead honors ancestral understanding through soil, seeds, and silence.
It’s part personal archive, part protest, and part love letter.