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Created in 2012, Camera Clara Photo Award is dedicated to photographers using large format camera. It rewards an unpublished work created by an artist, presented as a series or other coherent and comprehensive photographic set. The work will be assessed on its coherence, as a form as well as a content.
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Vasantha Yogananthan
Prize winner 2018
A Myth of Two souls is a 7-chapter project based on the myth of the Ramayana. Attributed to the poet Valmiki, the Ramayana was composed in Sanskrit in the 4th century. It tells the story of Rama and Sita, prince and princess of Ayodhya, condemned to live in exile for 14 years after a political intrigue. During their exile, Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, king of Sri Lanka. The two kingdoms clash in a bloody war. Under the guise of an adventure tale - a love story, a kidnapping, a war - the Ramayana is above all a philosophical tale. It's a story that conveys the moral and social codes observed in South Asian societies, from popular culture and politics to everyday individual behavior.
Vasantha Yogananthan's contemporary retelling of the Ramayana traces the 5,000-kilometer itinerary taken by the heroes of the epic from North to South India, reflecting the imaginary world created by the myth and its pervasiveness in everyday life.
In the dramatized portraits, the inhabitants of the places mentioned in the Ramayana interpret passages that have marked their imaginations. Produced using large-format 4×5 black-and-white cameras, these prints are then hand-colored by an Indian painter. The painter was given carte blanche. He paints according to his own imagination and sensibility - his vision superimposed on that of the photographer.
A Myth of Two Souls is a unique 7-book project. Composed of 7 chapters, the Ramayana recounts the cycle of life, from the birth of the two heroes to their death. Vasantha Yogananthan publishes one book per chapter. The books are published by the Chose Commune publishing house, which he founded in 2014 with Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi. The project also has a dedicated website(www.a-myth-of-two-souls.com) where each chapter is published when the book is released, in a specific digital format. The site is bilingual (French and English) and aims to make the work accessible to a wide audience.
The project is still ongoing.
Born in 1985, Vasantha Yogananthan lives and works in Paris. Through his photographic work, he questions the space between documentary and fiction. He develops long-term projects using large-format 4×5 cameras. He is deeply attached to the slow, almost philosophical rhythm of the silver medium. Over the years, Vasantha Yogananthan has created a singular color palette, based solely on natural light. His interest in painting has led him to work on portraits, landscapes and still lifes.
www.vasantha.fr