Vasantha Yogananthan - Early Times

Vasantha Yogananthan
Early Times

Published by Chose Commune, 2016
Book size 24.5 x 30 cm
Pages 104 pages / 48 photographs
Hardcover
Languages ​​English and French
ISBN: 978-2-9548777-3-0
©HoTeng Chang
First edition

Early Times is the first installment of Vasantha Yogananthan's long-term project, A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary rereading of the Ramayana. An epic composed of seven chapters and attributed to the poet Valmiki, the Ramayana, composed over two thousand years ago, is one of the fundamental texts of Hindu mythology.

Since 2013, Vasantha Yogananthan has been traveling across India from north to south, retracing the route taken by the heroes of the epic. Between fiction and reality, he deliberately blurs the lines by multiplying the approaches: color and black and white photographs, repainted photographs, illustrated photographs and vernacular images compose the layers of a timeless story.

This first book is that of the beginning: it tells the story of the youth and education of Rama, son of King Dasharatha and Sita, daughter of King Janaka – who do not yet know each other but who will be destined to meet and love each other. In line with the illustrated book, Vasantha Yogananthan invited Mahalaxmi and Shantanu Das, Indian artists in the tradition of Madhubani painting, to create original illustrations that enter into dialogue with his photographic work. The writing of the first chapter of this epic – constantly reinterpreted through the ages – was entrusted to the writer Anjali Raghbeer.

The project A Myth of Two Souls will be the subject of 7 books published at a rate of two per year until 2020, by Chose Commune editions. - publisher statement

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Early Times is the first installment of Vasantha Yogananthan's long-term project, A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary rereading of the Ramayana. An epic composed of seven chapters and attributed to the poet Valmiki, the Ramayana, composed over two thousand years ago, is one of the fundamental texts of Hindu mythology.

Since 2013, Vasantha Yogananthan has been traveling across India from north to south, retracing the route taken by the heroes of the epic. Between fiction and reality, he deliberately blurs the lines by multiplying the approaches: color and black and white photographs, repainted photographs, illustrated photographs and vernacular images compose the layers of a timeless story.

This first book is that of the beginning: it tells the story of the youth and education of Rama, son of King Dasharatha and Sita, daughter of King Janaka – who do not yet know each other but who will be destined to meet and love each other. In line with the illustrated book, Vasantha Yogananthan invited Mahalaxmi and Shantanu Das, Indian artists in the tradition of Madhubani painting, to create original illustrations that enter into dialogue with his photographic work. The writing of the first chapter of this epic – constantly reinterpreted through the ages – was entrusted to the writer Anjali Raghbeer.

The project A Myth of Two Souls will be the subject of 7 books published at a rate of two per year until 2020, by Chose Commune editions. - writings of the editor