Anu Kumar was only 8 months old when, in 1990, his parents left his native India to settle in Melbourne, Australia. Every two years, he returns to Kavi Nagar, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Delhi, to reunite with his family members. “My parents wanted me and my brother to stay connected to our home country. But that journey was very different from what I did as an adult.” he remembered.

He was 21 years old when he first visited Delhi without his father or mother. The beginning of a long journey that gave birth to a project called “Ghar”. This Hindi term translates to “House”, in English: home, homeland, root. For five years, Anu Kumar roamed the vast land, medium format camera in hand. “At first I felt a certain discomfort, because I felt a little awkward in my every move. It’s hard to communicate what I do, because I don’t know it myself. I do what comes. »

For him, this project is both a return and a new beginning. Because, through these photos, “I learned to be Indian, does he provide from Melbourne. It was kind of an exercise in style, I used my camera as a medium to shape my curiosity. A diary with pictures, in a way. I later understood that it served as an introduction to the rituals of daily life in India. And, with each passing day, I learn to love this subtle rhythm of life..

The little things that are connected

In her steamy, pastel-colored images, Anu Kumar captures the details of family homes, the ethereal light of megalopolises. He made simple portraits of his grandmother, uncles and aunts; he caught their most humble gestures, to surpass them in compositions full of sweetness. Napping in the heat, preparing meals… she captures these moments in detail, the little things that make a connection. Two feet of parchment resting on the mauve cloth, the almond green of the courgettes in the pewter dish, the crimson of the pomegranate, the gray languor of the untied braid: before the softness of her gaze, utterly forsaken.

As a family album, Anu Kumar makes albums of color and material. “I always like to find beauty in the most common objects, I don’t force myself to ‘exalt’ artificial daily life, he mentioned. It’s just that these everyday things captivate me, they always have an effect on me. »

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