This photography exhibition in Hyderabad brings 1980s Rajasthan to life

Anne Garde has a mode of turning the mean softly luminous with her Hasselblad camera. Travelling done Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur successful an Ambassador successful the 1980s, the French lensman recorded mundane beingness successful agrarian Rajasthan arsenic it unfolded: women walking with their ghoonghat drawn low, a beverage seller mid-ritual, a antheral resting against a partition hand-painted with advertisements. Four decades later, these images find a caller location astatine Maison d’Art Banjara, the ocular creation assemblage astatine Ashiana–Imli Sarai successful Banjara Hills. Titled Shiva Blues, the accumulation is presented successful collaboration with Alliance Française of Hyderabad (AFH).

Candid images

With her writer person Sylvie Raulet, Anne archetypal travelled to India for Salon Indien (released successful English arsenic Maharajas’ Palaces), a publication that took 14 years to complete. During those years, the duo made repeated trips crossed North India, visiting palace aft palace. These Rajasthan photographs were made successful a azygous day, captured successful the little intermission betwixt stops. “We were perpetually connected the move,” Anne recalls. “Driving from 1 metropolis to the next, passing done villages, I met radical connected the roadworthy and took these candid photographs.”

Shades of blue

A portion of India and the quiescent bushed of regular beingness unfolds successful the 25 images mounted astatine the gallery. Look intimately and the photographs uncover thing astir surreal: quality tegument rendered successful shades of blue. Anne, present 70, recalls experimenting with a process that produced this effect. “When I treated the movie with a chemic bath, the antagonistic mislaid its transparency and became opaque. The representation inverted, and the tegument turned blue. It worked peculiarly good with photographs changeable successful India due to the fact that the state is truthful afloat of colour.”

For Anne, the colour bluish carries symbolic value successful Indian mythology. It evokes Shiva — Neelkanth, the blue-throated deity who held poison successful his pharynx to prevention the world. “The fable inactive resonates today,” she says. “It blurs the enactment betwixt divinity and regular life, wherever mean radical look difficulties yet proceed with resilience.” These works person antecedently been shown successful Delhi and Puducherry.

Anne takes large attraction to sphere the negatives of her photographs which are organised by year, country, city, and subject. “The originals are successful cleanable condition; They are stored successful hanging files successful metallic cabinets successful a country kept astatine a changeless temperature. In 2026, the French Ministry of Culture volition instrumentality possession of my photographic heritage. Everything volition truthful beryllium archived and preserved.”

Shiva Blues, a photography exhibition, is connected presumption astatine Maison d’ Art Banjara, Hyderabad, till February 3, 2026