Born 1985 in Grenoble, France. Lives and works in Paris.

Vasantha Yogananthan develops photographic narratives that lie between documentation and fiction. His sensitive observation of everyday life and his interest in collective memories open a space where reality and imagination seamlessly merge. Yogananthan’s very distinctive use of color—sometimes handcoloring black-and-white photographs using traditional techniques—enhances the dreamlike quality of his subjects and their suspended state between fiction and reality.

For INSIGHTS, Yogananthan followed in the footsteps of the British-born architect Laurie Baker (1917–2007) to Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indian province of Kerala in 2019. 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. Yogananthan’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