Whether you are Southern Indian, a local surfer walking up the road after a session on the waves, or a group of friends walking through the neighborhood, there is an opportunity to engage with and connect to the art.

In Southern Indian culture, Kolams are geometric line drawings made with rice flour at the doorstep each morning as an act of devotion, hospitality, and mindfulness. The designs begin with a grid of dots. Curved or straight lines are then drawn around them to create precise repeating patterns.

Rangoli designs are commonly created in other parts of India, too. These often feature more colorful, figurative, free-flowing motifs that sometimes tell a story with characters or recognizable elements.

For this family, one partner was from Tamil Nadu and the other partner was from Maharashtra. This project kept the geometric, linear, monochromatic character of the Kolam but then brought in a touch of influence from the Rangoli with the figures intertwined within the composition, all grounded in the roots of their new home within San Francisco's Sunset District. They regularly collect sand dollars on their daily walks as a family along the water. Their daughter specifically asked for a mermaid. The border type was chosen to evoke the motion of waves.

If you don’t know what a Kolam is, you can still feel connected to the mural and find joy in its imagery If you do know what a Kolam is, that is a whole other layer of meaning for the work.