Imperfect narrative jigsaw puzzle of India.

The travel photo is an imperfect jigsaw puzzle. It will never give a definitive answer on what India could be. This kind of photo is often created to be a form of entertainment. In such cases, its solution may be a significant contribution to visual entertainment or visual information. In my opinion, it is an object of entertainment that plays a major role in shaping imaginary geographies.

It is impossible to respect reality. The photographer is a creator who offers to see a new world: his own. So I am not showing you India. This is my story about India. Which India? Not the one defined by its landscapes, but the one defined by its people. The Indian man is visible in all directions. Even in the Great Indian Desert. The Indians are numerous. So it was for the Indians that I went to India.

These photos/puzzle tell the story of a Sikh walking with a stick in the sacred lake of the Golden Temple of Amritsar, a walking bread salesman who collects coal and is teased by a black bird, Jain monks from Udaipur who spend their day walking, a Sapera with a cobra, a street actor with a huge head who plays on the roof of a slum of Delhi, etc. It’s an imperfect narrative jigsaw puzzle of what is India.

Photo: Serge Bouvet

Serge BOUVET

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Jigsaw puzzle of Indian reality.

La Croix published Le Jaïnisme