Gayatri Ganju, India
The dragon and the goat
(August 2017)

Project in collaboration with Pro Helvetia, New Dehli

The sun had gone down behind the mountain but the rocks were still warm.
Their heat rose through his body as the temperature around him began to drop quickly. Absence shook himself up and stretched his limbs across the banks of the river. The mountains today felt old and tired. Tonight the village was his for the taking.

Time and the river flowed through the Valley, cutting it into shape.
Their source was unknownbut their destination was the dam. That’s where they stopped. Everything else stumbled forward in perfect order.

As he turned the corner a fox flashed through his headlights.
Maybe he had it all wrong. They weren’t frightened but were showing off their shiny coats. This was a game they played to see how close they could get before they jumped into the dark and disappeared.
That seemed more like them.

He got out of the car and as he put one step in front of the other he could feel the road, the forest, the people in their beds, breathing with him.
The time had come. He slipped out of his skin and in to another.

I was initially drawn to photography by my love for peoples stories. My practice was driven by my need and ability to connect with my subjects. Somewhere along the lines, things shifted and I found myself drawn to landscapes and the environment. I began to look at spaces as my subjects. At the moment
I feel like both these loves are coming together and I am interested in looking at people and their relationship to the natural world. I’m inspired by narratives that weave through mythology and the mundane, collapsing the line between fact and fiction.

I graduated from the London College of Communication with a Masters in Documentary Photography, end of 2013. After which I moved back home to Bangalore (India) where I am currently based and work freelance.