Aditi Pophale

My work explores the sensory lives of underwater animals. I use a distinctly human, unapologetically anthropomorphic lens to enter their worlds. As a former neuroscientist studying animal behaviour, I spent years trying to understand how octopuses perceive, sleep, and make decisions. But even the most rigorous scientific methods cannot fully dissolve the human presence embedded in observation. Art allows me to lean into that presence, rather than strip it away.

I am an emerging artist whose work explores the sensory worlds of underwater animals through a unique blend of scientific insight and human imagination. Before transitioning into art, I completed my PhD at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (2019–2024), specializing in computational neuroethology. My research led to the discovery of REM-like sleep in octopuses, published in Nature (2023), and included extensive work with computer vision analysis, behavioural experiments, and neural recordings.

My scientific background deeply informs my artistic practice. I spent years observing octopuses and other animals up close—studying their perception, cognition, and movement through both structured experiments and field-based encounters. My research experiences span octopus intelligence studies in Japan, coral reef ecology in the remote Lakshadweeep and Andaman islands in India, chimpanzee behaviour in the field in Tanzania, and neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Education:
PhD, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan (2019–2024)

Scholar, Center of Excellence, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany (2018- 2019)

MSc. Ecology and Conservation, National Centre for Biological Sciences, India (2014- 2016)

BA ...