My project aims to photograph the “Indian soul” and capture the distinctive nature of this continent country, guided by the epic of the Ramayana as a common thread. My objective is to produce pictures devoided of any staging, that will reflect the imaginary realm emerging from the Ramayana and its influence in everyday life.

The Ramayana, masterpiece of world literature written in Sanskrit over 2000 years ago, is to the Asian civilisation what Homer’s Odyssey is to the European civilisation, a timeless myth that has strongly shaped the Indian identity. Its author, Valmiki, is known as the “Indian Shakespeare”. More than a journey, Indians draw from this text, which conveys moral and philosophical values, an ideal to which they measure their own existence.

Ramayana’ writer Valmiki had a broad knowledge of geography. The descriptions he gave about the places his characters visited has allowed the reconstitution of their itinerary and nowadays Indians visit these places to confirm the mental representation they have built up around them. But permeation between fiction and reality goes beyond geography and extends toward identity issues. The myth is ubiquitous in everyday life and its appropriation is at the core of my project. 

To tell this story, I will use pictures and texts, as well as original extracts from the epic, press clipping related to modern events linked to the Ramayana and various vernacular documents.