This project, completed in 2007 in collaboration with American contemporary dancers Tom Evert and Susana Weingarten, captures the profound connection between a loving couple and the natural world. The photographs depict how these two responsive artists engage in a silent dialogue with various elements of nature, expressing their thoughts, feelings, and experiences and sharing the stories of their enduring love. As they perform, nature’s elements become listeners, collaborators, critics, and an emotionally responsive audience.
Susana and Tom visited Kerala in 2007 for a performance in Thrissur. Although I had known them for quite some time, the idea of a collaborative project arose naturally. I had been contemplating the concept of communication between humans and nature but was unsure of how to visually represent it in still photographs. The photographs had to incorporate various elements of nature and human presence and express communication physically rather than verbally. Additionally, to capture the dynamic nature of communication, the photos had to convey movement and dynamism. The versatile and creative dancers with their extensive experience in contemporary practices presented the perfect possibility for collaboration, and I believed they could bring my vision to life exactly as I had envisioned.
I explained the concept to them, and then we travelled to an easily accessible woodland. There we saw the earth, wind, trees, creepers, birds, butterflies, and rocks as a whole assemblage of new collaborators and audience from nature. To begin with, at my request and following my directions, they performed as if they were communicating with the Earth. My task was simply to identify the right moment when their bodies and gestures were most expressive and to capture the impression of movement, flexibility, and fluidity in the still image. Then they danced for the Wind, the Water, the Fish, the Rocks, the Trees, the Bushes, the Creepers, the Birds, and the Butterflies.
These are the photographs we created together. Embedded in these memorable images are the concepts of respect, love, mutualism, communication, openness, and the universality of art.