PCooked goat heads lie on the counter. They are for sale. For many, the meat market is a culinary taboo. But even among them, some markets are completely off limits – for example, this is the offal market one. And those who care about it – the lowest in the Peking order.
A little boy cuddles his dog. His love for the animal is evident in the way he holds it. Does the son of a hunter-gatherer see the irony of the situation? It is left for the audience to decide.
The photographs, which are part of the work of Bangalore-based Asha Thadani, offer a glimpse into India’s socio-cultural ethos and how it centers around the “use of power and the abusers to harm”. revolves around. She explores her theory through a series of photographs documenting the relationship of Indians with their animals and how it has changed over the years.
catalog, title interbeing, is on display As part of the celebrations of the Institute on the completion of 75 years of India’s independence from 11 to 21 August at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai.
“The human-animal equation is a political consideration. The engagement of man and animals on the basis of power is best considered and understood,” Thadani told ThePrint.
“India, where the presence of animals is embedded in our social, cultural, religious and political thought, practice and dialogue, offers many possibilities to convey this fascinating story,” she adds.
‘-isms express our point of view’
Thadani, who started her career in photography in 1996, says she is a willful photographer and likes to plan and research her assignments before whipping out her camera.
he started shooting interbeing On her slow journey in 2010 to several other Indian states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar, Nagaland and Manipur.
The exhibition of 45 photographs – all in grayscale – brings to the fore the discrepancies in Indian culture in relation to many of today’s political ‘-promises’. “The food chain as a political construct runs through the chain. Ideas such as speciesism, anthropomorphism, ecological feminism, animalism, vegetarianism and spiritualism express our conflicting and inconsistent attitudes towards animals,” says Thadani.
For example, ‘speciesism’ – the notion of human superiority over animals – comes through images such as men forcing oxen to jump off a wall of burning grass. The picture, shot in Karnataka’s Mandya to mark the ‘Kicchu Harisodu’ celebrations during Makar Sankranti festival, was nothing short of silly. On the other hand, pictures of a row of elephants and their mahouts in Rajasthan’s Amer Fort offering tourists a ride are a more subtle reminder.
In contrast, a photograph of a temple belonging to the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan shows how they have been natural conservationists, rearing deer bitten by wild dogs.
She breaks the myth of eclectic feminism with images of a woman lovingly raising two chickens—only to prepare them for a cock fight. But this frame has another layer of meaning. Traditional gender roles and stereotypes are clear: the fighters are men, and the nurturers are women.
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India and its animals
Self-taught photographer Thadani says he decided to portray the power struggle of humans in India through their relationships with animals in different cultures.
“Over time the interaction between them evolved and changed in favor of man,” she says. Thadani’s photograph from Mandya’s Kichchu Harisodu ceremony, where oxen are made to jump through the blazing fire, is a testament to this. After all, the human ability to overcome the fear of fire was one of the first things that gave humans an edge over animals.
Thadani says that while all countries have a unique relationship with the native animals of their land, none in India is perhaps “complicated, rich, ambitious and confusing”. Animals live deep inside India’s racial memory.
“In the representation of frozen animals, one can experience this paradoxical relationship, combining the past and the present” [sic] In prehistoric cave paintings, in temples where animals and gods were worshiped with equal enthusiasm, in the lifestyles of pastoral and agricultural communities, in tribal animist beliefs, in rituals and ceremonies, as well as in 21st century symbolism of life in,” he adds.
Unlike the times when animals were aiding India’s evolutionary and socio-cultural journey, today environmental and political forces are shaping diet, the perception of animals, and people’s perceptions of each other through this lens.
“Beasts and meat have become more morally and emotionally challenging than ever before,” she says.
And it’s precisely that feeling that makes her catalog especially relevant now.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)