Like a River ~

A layered, visual and material story, depicting Ganga from her source in Himalaya to Varanasi. Images and tiny stones collected in 2006 and 2026. Sacred in Indian culture ~ along its course, the river is home to a rich ecosystem and ancestral traditions.

In 2006, during a journey from Varanasi to Gomukh, the source of Ganges, I took about 200 photographs, B/W and colour, with Olympus and Canon cameras / Leica lenses. Walking on the quiet mountain path, I experienced the river as a living being and felt strongly connected to it. It was through that gaze that I tried to capture its shape, rhythm, 'breath', its texture and 'voice'. The negatives are of high resolution and when printed professionally on fine art paper, the images bring out a vibrant sense of how the river and the life along its course feels. As online dissemination I chose for low resolution, small format montage -- a ‘narrative’ about walking along the river: www.iulianavarodi.com/ganga.html (see also vimeo.com/352409618?fl=pl&fe=sh - home printed draft montage ~ playing with formats).

In 2015, during another journey to India, I focussed more on life on the Ghats in Varanasi, and worked with a digital camera (Canon, Leica lens). The intention was to capture subtle sides of urban life along the banks of the river. A small selection is here https://iulianavarodi.com/river2015.pdf. These images would be best valorised if printed in various sizes, composed like a 'mood board' and displayed on a wall opposite to the wall with the pictures took in 2006 and 2026 (as described above and below). Based on my fresh experience with self-publishing, I intend to realise a new book with the photographs that I will select for the exhibition proposed hereby, potentially with a couple of poems or essays - such as www.iulianavarodi.com/waves.htm at the beginning and the end of the book.

In 2026, the focus is again on the river Ganges, from Gomukh to Varanasi, with a series of photographs from the same positions and angles like in 2006 www.iulianavarodi.com/ganga.html, to show how the river and the landscapes have changed. I will use the same analog technologies (same cameras, lenses and negative types like in 2006) and juxtapose the photographs from 2006 with the ones from 2026.
On a shelf as long as the exhibition (perhaps one wall) - under each photograph, I will place a small stone, collected from the place where I took the picture.

Artistic research aspect: through this work, I will deepen my understanding of the materiality of photography as artistic practice, regarding subject and object, at all the levels of the process: the landscape and everyday life I portray (erosion, evolution), the cameras and films that I use, different techniques of printing and of dissemination (online, physical exhibition, installation, publication).

I seek a collaboration with a curator ~ to make selection and design the exhibition together, and a grant ~ to cover travel and production costs such as for films, prints and dissemination.

As a follow up, I will publish a new book, a continuation of my writing and publishing as artistic practice ~ such as 'wandering, writing, wondering' https://www.iulianavarodi.com/book/.