So , I'm going through my old stuff shot in India and Sri Lanka. I see some material, but nothing seems to interest me. There is no smell, no caos, no noise, no debris, no rotten incense, ... I always had a problem with the pictures of India because it does not capture the intense shocking experience that is to travel that country when you have been raised in a country like Spain. How to represent it without using or abusing it? how to not make a cliché out of it?, how to de-exoticize the camera?.
I wrote a little text about it in 2012 that I decided was enough to replace all the photos shot in place:
"Very much opposite to what many times I had supposed, I found really difficult to make an honest approach to what or how I did experience India.
I refused to "aestheticize" such a hard impression that made on me, although I inevitably did, I guess.
Words might be helpful this time. I can narrate big details left out: a country where all women dress like princesses, waiting and wait-rs.Contemplatives contemplated, standing, just being, ... Unafraid of heights, always reaching picks and far away mountains for a faith.The smell, a thick untranslatable air, of dirt, water and rotten spices.Noise. Policemen that look like pharaons.Monsoon.20 rupees,consumptive cows, how much?, Where are u from?,heartbreak,need,beauty,eyes...picture, picture" (2012)
From all that chaos my memory jumped to this image, a single uninteresting shot for the purposes of a professional photographer, but nevertheless a most beautiful story about: care.
What happens here is that, in some kind of a prayer, the devoted Buddhists place this tiny little pieces of wood, roots, or any kind of natural stick to "hold" giant boulders in a "compromised equilibrium" - sort of like the golden rock in Myanmar-.
I have no idea the entire meaning of this ritual but I was extremely moved by the sight of all this people bringing this delicate little sticks to support this massive piece of rock that would most definitely crash them in a second if it were to fall.
It was the most generous gesture, as if to say that even the roughest most strong things in nature need also a very delicate care, help and support.