Lily Sood
To India!
Lily Sood
Growing up distanced from my Indian heritage, I consumed art and
films about India from both the Western and Indian perspectives, such as Wes
Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. Similarly,
I looked at photographs by artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and
Raghubir Singh. Seeing those artists' interpretation of India is one thing, but
actually experiencing it for yourself is another. So that is precisely what I did.
My body of work stems from my Undergraduate Summer Research
Grant, during which I traveled to India to meet and photograph my extended
family and the surrounding environment. While being thrust into the
unfamiliar environment of India, I was able to take my familiar practice of
shooting documentary-style street portraits with my digital camera into a new
setting. The selected portraits are only a sample of around 2500 images shot
in Delhi and Bulandshahr, India. They depict the people who I encountered
on my trip, both family and strangers. The works highlight the brightly
patterned warmth of India during the hot summer months and illustrate a
conversation between me, my camera, and my heritage.