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28 Mar 2024, Edition - 3180, Thursday

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Ramayana in the everyday: A photobook recreates the ancient tale in modern India – and it is epic

Covai Post Network

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In a seven-part project, photographer Vasantha Yoganathan tries to reimagine and demystify the narrative.

Can the modern practice of fine art photography help us develop a new understanding of ancient traditions?

Even as scholars and politicians battle over the historicity, origins and supposed technological superiority of ancient Hindu narratives, a photographer has answered this question with an emphatic yes.

Sri Lanka-born French photographer Vasantha Yoganathan is fascinated with how stories are interpreted and evolve over time and space. In addition to editorial work for clients like Google, Air France and Le Monde and numerous exhibitions, Yoganathan has also worked extensively on his passion projects – his photobooks – and has bagged at least half a dozen awards in the first five years of his career.

Over the past few years, Yoganathan has embarked on an exciting and bold retelling of one of India’s grandest stories, the Ramayana.

With an ambition nearly as epic as the ancient tale, Yoganathan is working on a seven-volume pictorial narrative, A Myth of Two Souls, inspired by the Ramayana. The first volume, Early Years, was released in June and has piqued the interest of the creative community.

Time travel

For Yoganathan, a photobook is the primary vehicle for his explorations. The project will comprise seven photobooks, one per chapter of the Ramayana, and will be published between 2016 and 2019.

Yoganathan grew up with stories from the Ramayana, parts of which are also believed to have been set in Sri Lanka. But it was not until his first visit to India in 2013 that he grasped just how important and alive the ancient tale is even today.

It took him several trips to work out the idea and itinerary for the project. Starting in Uttar Pradesh and travelling down the subcontinent towards Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Yoganathan tried to create art that would travel across geographies and through time – to create a present-day journey into the past.

Like all epics, Ramayana, is a multitude of stories. It speaks about god and demons while also instructing man on the mundane. It maps out geographies that are actual as well as ideal. Ultimately, though, it is a story of people.

Today, although representations of stories and heroes from the Ramayana are everywhere to be seen in India, they are so stylised that it is hard to establish a human relationship with them. This is what Yoganathan’s work attempts to change.

Using a variety of materials and media, including hand-tinted monochrome and colour film, Yoganathan has cleverly re-imagined one of the world’s great cultural texts and placed it in a human context and in the everyday.

Yoganathan’s attempt seems to be to demystify the tale. His photographs, such as the one above, nearly close the gap between myth and reality. Using ordinary Indians, in everyday, non-studio settings, he reminds us that Ramayana is truly a folk tale – a story of the people.

When you look closely, you see that Yoganathan has retained the essence of the epic, but has stripped it of the costumes and garish headgear that were popularised by soap-opera like recreations of the tale.

But even though the glitter and gloss have gone, the drama and mystery of the narrative are evident and Yoganathan’s images remain enigmatic.

The Ramayana, when seen as a story of men, women and children, remains relevant even today. Many images, including the one above of labourers staring into the distance, capture the emotion and humanity of the epic.

Though his style is deceptively documentary, these are, in fact, carefully constructed photographs. Yoganathan deliberately stages most of the scenes, a process that underscores the fact they are part of a narrative. Indeed, to fully appreciate his pictures, they must be viewed in context – as part of a book, complete with accompanying text.

The text of the first volume, Early Years, is by Delhi writer Anjali Raghabeer. Yoganathan confesses that part of his agenda is to bring out the feminine colours of the Ramayana, which told all too often from a male perspective.

To this end, he studied Nina Paley’s film Sita Sings the Blues and consulted Samhita Arni, the author Sita’s Ramayana. The Ramayana “can be quite a macho narrative that puts women in the shadows,” the photographer said.

For instance, this image of a woman (ostensibly Sita) lying on a tiled line appears at first a rather obvious interpretation of a famous scene from the Ramayana. But as you linger, you start to wonder: was Sita coerced to cross the Laxman rekha, the line drawn outside her forest dwelling? Or has she been caught in the act of breaking boundaries imposed on her by men?

Yoganathan has cleverly used his many skills as an artist to create a rich visual and textual tapestry. Photographs that appear unremarkable at first glance are, in fact, brimming with emotion. Pathos, mystery, longing and humour emerge frequently.

Each frame is not just a part of the story of Ram and Sita, but also a glimpse of the fabled so-called eternal India.

Yoganathan’s work is a contribution to an ancient historical narrative. It is also a gift of fine art to India.

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