Asha Thadani's new photo exhibition delves into the relationship we share with animals

In the making for over a decade, the stills in this photo exhibition illustrate the origin and evolution of our relationship with animals

Retrospection will come from stillness. And stills, offering a chance to look into the world standing two feet away from it, come with insight. That’s what Bengaluru-based Asha Thadani’s photo exhibition titled India and Her Animals offers. A series of 45 photographs, curated from 100 that were shot over more than a decade, speaks of our relationship with animals across many forms and fields. The works share insight into our cultural and social development that took shape through this engagement. From the historic cave paintings of animals at Madhya Pradesh’s Bhimbetka rock shelters to the hunting Angami community in Khonoma village in Nagaland, the photographs cover sport, religion, food, astrology, customs and more. “It highlights the influence of animals in the way we think, believe, nurture and exploit,” Thadani shares.

Hunter from the Angami Tribe, Khonoma village, Nagaland

Making your way through the stills, something that is often forgotten is recalled — the need to redefine power structures and dominance over these sentient beings that we share the planet with. The photographer says that the push and play of power dynamics is intriguing, adding, “The power structures and struggles in human and animal societies are fairly similar. When both of these societies confront each other in an urban environment, the initially well-defined, linear, stable structures of the two collapse.

Home of a Mahout, Tamil Nadu. PICS COURTESY/ASHA THADANI

Pursuing those distinctive moments got me interested in documenting the series. And India, where these situations are so profuse, couldn’t have been more ideal as the narrator of these possibilities.” Thinking about her journey where the pictures were the result of deliberate thoughts that led to wider opportunities, Thadani recalls, “The most interesting part of the journey was exploring new connections between different ideas. At times human-animal situations that seemed unpredictable and incongruous at first actually did have structure when I observed them more deeply. Identifying that made it emotionally palatable for me.”

Asha Thadani. PIC/IRFAN PASHA

As our relationship with animals remains conflicted and inconsistent, she notes that the series is designed to raise more questions than provide answers. “I have tried to capture this multi-layered series without judgement, I would like it to be perceived that way,” Thadani concludes.

From: August 11 to 21; 12 pm to 8 pm 
At: Piramal Art Gallery, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point
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