Artist Statement

As an American-born woman of Indian heritage, I have studied and revered the culture, food and art of India throughout my life. In 2015, I was fortunate to spend a month travelling in India after a 25-year absence. Interestingly, neither my heritage nor my studies prepared me for the feelings I experienced once I arrived.  I felt displaced, a nervous tourist not knowing where to look first. It overwhelmed me meeting 71 relatives in the first 14 days, seeing my grandmother for the first time in my adult life, and then embarking on a two-week bus tour covering several thousand years of Indian history and culture. I was amazed that no one seemed upset or stressed in the midst of what I viewed as the utter pandemonium of Indian life.  My everyday American existence seemed serene and ordered by contrast – I felt harried and frantic, in need of a way to process my many experiences.  

My camera became an effective buffer between myself and the chaos I perceived.  As a photographer, I used the lens as a filter that helped me make visual sense of it all. These images were moments of rest for my eye, and moments of meditation for my mind. This show is the fruit of my labor as I bowed in quiet reverence to the subjects of these images. Quietly to each I say: I bow to the God in you as, you bow to the God in me. I have nothing but love in my heart for you. Namaste, India.