Born 1985. Lives and works in Paris.

Vasantha Yogananthan is best known for his long-term projects, including a multi-year exploration of the influence of the famous Indian national epic Ramayana on everyday Indian culture. In Yogananthan's seven volumes, his own photo-narrative version of the Hindu heroic story Ramayana emerges piece by piece. The very special use of color – in some cases he has black and white photographs colored by hand afterwards using an old technique – reinforces the dreamlike effect of his motifs and their state of suspension between fiction and reality.

For INSIGHTS, Yoganathan followed in the footsteps of the British-born architect Laurie Baker (1917–2007) to Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indian province of Kerala. Baker had moved to India in 1945 and—influenced by the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi—became known for his simple, cost- and energy-efficient, yet aesthetically appealing architectural style, in which the use of brick played a central role. Yoganathan’s series illustrates the lightness of life that Baker sought to convey through his unique building approach—one that avoids a strict separation between indoors and outdoors and is intended to enable the respectful coexistence of all forms of life.

www.vasanthayogananthan.com