|
hindu deities along the gulf coast
The
experience of making photographs after Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita was heartbreaking but also riveting; I always
brought a friend or students for company. We explored
the small towns, some completely destroyed, in Mississippi
and Southwest Louisiana as well as the city of New Orleans.
Tables in my studio filled with stacks of 3x5”
pictures of color or black and white objects and landscapes.
The images functioned as raw data, documents, an inventory
of loss and the power of nature.
Around the same time I traveled to northern India to
practice yoga and study the gorgeous Hindu pantheon
of gods and goddesses. Sacred altars for the deities
are everywhere; garish figures made with shiny and homely
materials are set against the drawn mountainous landscape
of the Himalayas. I was reminded of the crèche
scenes in rural Europe with their Madonna figures set
into grottoes. And then the votive offerings of flowers,
incense, food and prayer reminded me of the Catholic/Voodoo
altars of my friends in Louisiana.
In these hybrid landscapes sacred figures from India
inhabit spaces in Louisiana, Mississippi and most recently,
Mexico. As a photographer, I use both digital and silver
photo processes sometimes combined with other media.
Present exhibits include two kinds of work: a series
of pigment ink prints and one-of-a kind collages in
antique "bubble glass" frames.
In Hindu Deities Along the Gulf Coast the gods
and goddesses offer themselves to the contemporary ruins
of the South and to the cosmic firmament. These pictures
give our recent cultural and environmental upheaval
a mythological dimension.
Lynda Frese, March 2008
|
