Indian Rites: Signs of Devotion
Description
Indian Rites : Signs of Devotion is an outsider’s observation of the adherence and dedication to spiritual practices performed as part of daily life in different parts of India.
Paul Wakefield’s interest in India started when he was invited to visit a friend’s village in Kerala in 1982. He travelled with his customary 4X5 camera that he used for photographing landscape, his primary subject up to that point. After that initial trip, he realised it was the human landscape of India that had really made an impression on him, and so he changed direction, returning on many subsequent visits until 2001, with hand-held cameras and a new objective. He began focusing more on the everyday rituals that he witnessed around him, ranging from moments of individual intimate devotion, to festivals where millions of pilgrims would congregate around auspicious dates, such as the Kumbh Melas.