Visual artist and anthropologist Sayali Goyal’s new photography book documents the charming everyday moments and objects seen during her travels across rural and small-town India
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A kind face in a window
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“[This image was taken] outside Leh in 2018, at the house of a coppersmith who makes utensils to sell in the local market. He has his ancestors’ photo put in a glass cabinet and I think it’s a common thread in most Indian homes to have framed or unframed photos of generations. I love the colour coordination in this image too”
A braid of combs
“[Photographed at a] nomadic embroiderer’s home in Kutch, 2022. It was really interesting for me to see how they had so many combs, maybe for each member of the family, very practically organised. The homes were pretty small, so I liked how they made use of the space”
A bridal show of hands
“[Shot outside] a local’s house in the weaver’s colony in Maheshwar [in Madhya Pradesh], 2019. I love the symbolism of vermillion and how every bride who is married into the house would stamp this at the entrance of the house”
Cool kicks, Dadaji
“[Shot in] Old Town, Amritsar, in 2019. I thought he had a cool personal style as he wore sneakers which are so functional for his profession [rickshaw-puller], but teamed with a traditional turban and dhoti that expresses his religious identity”
When the office is also a nap room
“Johri Bazaar, Jaipur, 2022. This may be my favourite shop in the bazaar that belongs to money lenders who only open after 11 am and take long siestas in the afternoon. The green paint on the little doors leading to a hidden room, to the bold use of green and red terrazzo and the many photos of ancestors create this ambience that one would find in many old bazaars”
A bedroom out of history pages
“Mandawa [in Rajasthan’s Shekhawati region], 2022. I absolutely loved the warm colours in the room and the bold use of maximalist patterns to compliment these colours. Shekhawati region is known for its frescos, however this was somebody’s bedroom and I wondered how one sleeps with such an overload of visuals”
‘I hope to decolonise the global gaze on Indian design’
Sayali Goyal
From the minimalistic and practical design of humble homes, to maximalist floral murals in havelis; from scenes of people at work in a town bazaar, to gentle depictions of men and women caught in a moment of rest, Sayali Goyal captures aesthetic appeal in everyday scenes in India that most others might pass by without noticing. Sunday mid-day speaks to the artist-anthropologist to learn what inspires her photography.
The breadth of the photography in the book is immense; how many years and trips did it take you to develop it?
I started to travel in 2016 in India and have travelled for at least 120 days each year. This work is a curated archive of the last eight years. The original repository for the images for over a lakh photos, but the archiving was done mindfully to bring the key themes to the forefront and cover the diversity of aesthetics India has to offer, shedding light on many multigenerational objects, regional identities, eras of architectural styles, multiple materials, symbolism and vernacular designs.
How would you describe your photography style? And how would you say your background in anthropology and art have informed your photography?
I think my style is intuitive and focused. I don’t like to carry the weight of a highly technical camera as I think it takes away from the moment and subject of the photo. In ethnographic documentation, it’s really important to make sure you are involving your subjects—both the environment and people—as they are, and sometimes a large professional camera takes away from the originality of the setting. So I use a phone camera to capture the essence of things in their original form without staging anything.
I think anthropological understanding allowed me to see the multiple meaning of things and how people use “everyday aesthetic” to express themselves, tell their individual stories (consciously or unconsciously), to connect these elements of design to themes of identity, diversity, intercity migration, cross cultural connections and heritage (intangible and tangible) preservation. There are so many layers to each image and, as an anthropologist; this book becomes a cultural dictionary for me.
What is it you seek to convey through your photography?
I hope to open people’s minds to the beautiful chaos that surrounds us and own this reality of ours and celebrate it. I hope to decolonise the global gaze on Indian design and acknowledge our vast contribution that is beyond just a few design movements that are acknowledged. I hope people connect to the nostalgic elements of the book and find comfort through these visuals that hold the past. I hope people use this abundant inspiration and make new design decisions that are rooted in Indianness.
Images excerpted with permission from Everyday Indian Aesthetic by Sayali Goyal, Roli Books
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