Twice Upon a Time in Auroville

In September there was a special photography exhibition in Citadines Art Gallery.  Aurovilian photographer Marco Saroldi took archive photos of the early days of Auroville by Dominique Darr and matched them with photos he had taken recently.  

“It began with a project for Outreach Media”, explains Marco. “I had taken photographs of people working joyfully in the new Joy of Impermanence community, and I was immediately reminded of the spirit of the original pioneers. So I selected about ten pictures of the pioneers from the Auroville Archives and put them together with the Joy of Impermanence photos, then published them on the Outreach Media website.”

He knew that many early photographs had been taken by Dominque Darr and these were archived in Citadines. He’d also seen Olivier Barot’s new photographic book on Auroville which had been brought out for the 50th anniversary, “So I wondered, what if I took the same photos today? What would we see? How would the places change? And how would these new landscapes be peopled?”

The exhibition features 27 pairs of photos, the pioneer black and white photos of Dominique juxtaposed with recent colour images of Marco. Sometimes the link between the pairs is geographic, sometimes thematic or by mood.

At first sight, the juxtaposition of past and present seems to lead to rather obvious conclusions. There are strong contrasts, as in the image of the early sand road in a desert set contrasted with today’s urbanized high road in Kuilapalayam village; there are similarities, evidenced by people working joyfully together on the Matrimandir excavation and the Joy of Impermanence project; and there is development, illustrated by the juxtaposition of the stark birth image taken in a simple Utility hut with the recent founding ceremony of the Morning Star birthing centre.

The past as it emerges through Dominique’s images seems to be represented by simplicity, scarcity, raw energy, wide vistas and individuality, while Marco’s present seems to be one of abundance, diversity and community.

Yet, on closer inspection, the images elude such a simplistic ‘balance sheet’ type of interpretation. For while the pioneers inhabited a stark landscape and possessed very little in comparison with the Aurovilians of today, they had an intensity and an ability to create something beautiful out of almost nothing - a Matrimandir, a painting, a living sculpture – as Dominique’s images of the Amphitheatre workers or the Forecomers’ pioneer artists attest. Today, it is true that there is more of everything - people, colour, diversity, opportunity - but Marco’s photos sometimes suggest that something has also been lost. 

For example, ‘Tea Break’ contrasts the casual harmony of workers, both Aurovilian and employees, drinking tea together in the early 1970s with the bored and isolated figures taking a break during a recent meeting at the Unity Pavilion.  ‘Past simple, present continuous’ pairs an image of an early lesson in a simple hut with a modern art lesson in a well-appointed art room, yet whereas in the former the young students are keenly surrounding the teacher, in the latter the material abundance seems accompanied by a certain diminution of aspiration, of intensity, in the students.  

Perhaps the strongest contrast between past and future is provided by ‘Hidden Object’, in which Dominique’s stark image of the urn in an empty landscape is juxtaposed to Marco’s shot from the 50th Anniversary bonfire where the urn is submerged, completely hidden, by camera-touting tourists.   

For Marco, there are no ‘winners’ here. “If I look at the images I don’t like either situation. Dominique’s urn shot makes me feel sad, it’s like a monument lost in the desert, but in my 50th image Auroville is a typical touristic place: I counted 29 cameras in the 50 or 60 people crowded around the urn!”

In other words, as Marco’s partner, Dominique, wrote in the exhibition introduction, “Rather than a balance sheet, it is a subtle game with an underlying question.”  She explains, “You can’t make a simple judgement about the past and the present, it is much more complex.”  These images force us not only to re-evaluate the past, but also the present; the gains, the losses, the inspiring continuities, the new possibilities. 

Moreover, the nature of development is often different today. The ‘Building the Lotus’ pairing juxtaposes work on the early Matrimandir construction with a recent meditation around the lotus pond beneath the structure, seeming to indicate that while the earlier emphasis was on the transformation of the physical landscape now there is more time for inner work to be done.

In some ways, of course, the way we respond to the images is very subjective. For some of the early pioneers, Dominique’s images may evoke a simpler time of greater fraternity, while latecomers may shudder at the starkness of those early landscapes and the primitive living conditions. Yet, as Marco points out, “You can’t say it’s better or worse today, it’s just different. In the past maybe there was more cohesion, and it was less complicated. There were the wide perspectives, the simplicity, but nowadays there are more opportunities and people can play basketball under a wonderful structure in New Creation. In some ways it is better now but then you have to breathe all the pollution on the roads. In the past you feel there were times when people were more open, it was really an adventure, whereas now people come here because it’s a beautiful place. Yet every day they still have to struggle with something, so this has not changed.” 

Marco clarifies, however, that he is not primarily interested in making social commentary. “I selected these images for their aesthetic quality, not because they ‘say’ something. When I choose my own photos I select the ones where the colours are vibrant, the people beautiful. I like people dancing round a fire rather than people crying!”

It’s a timely reminder that this exhibition is not only thought-provoking but also an aesthetic experience in which Dominique’s unique visual documentary of the early years is beautifully complemented by Marco’s remarkable eye for colour and composition.