Photography

It’s easy to overlook the bark of a tree – especially here in Auroville, where trees are everywhere and we pass them daily, often without stopping to truly see.

What do you get when you mix a seasoned photographer, theatrical flair, and nearly four decades of festive mischief? HAPPY NEW YEAR by Marco Saroldi – part photo exhibit, part autobiography, and entirely the cheekiest holiday tradition around.

John Mandeen, who passed away recently, was one of the early Auroville Today photographers and designed the cover of its first compilation.

John Mandeen left his body on July 7, 2024.

Centre d’Art, Monday, three o’clock in the afternoon. About fifteen people are working on the photograph of the Auroville banyan tree which is spread out over seven metres in front of the large picture window.

In mid October, Aurovilian Frederic Martin Duchamp presented ‘Presence and Flow’, an exhibition of photographs from different parts of the world at the Centre d’Art in Citadines.

In November 1988, thirty-four years ago, Auroville Today began life, and this month marks our 400th issue. Peter Lloyd, one of our most loyal subscribers and a recent addition to our editorial team gives his reflection.

Nadia is a photographer, geographer, and has been the president of AVI-France for the last ten years. She first came to Auroville in 1973. In mid September, she presented some of her photos of Auroville from the 1980s at an exhibition at the Centre d’Art in Citadines.

To celebrate Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary, Savitri Bhavan hosted “Blessings”, an exhibition of the photographs of Sri Aurobindo made by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The images on this page are from experimental photography classes from Future School and from Analogue Photography Workshops at Centre d’Art, Citadines.

In early February, Ashwin Ezhumalai presented his photos of the Himalayas at an exhibition in Citadines Centre d’Art. Taken over six years during different treks with other Aurovilians in rarely visited valleys and passes in Himachal Pradesh, they capture the different aspects of this stark yet magical high altitude landscape: deep valleys, rock-strewn glaciers, grassy uplands, sacred lakes, immense starscapes, and stunning snow-capped mountains playing hide-and-seek with clouds.

It is sometimes difficult to place the 1980s in Auroville. The 1970s was a period of pioneering and high drama – including, as it does, Mother’s passing and the conflict with the Society – while the 1990s witnessed a Cambrian explosion of projects.

This month, the 5th Art for Land exhibition opened at Unity Pavilion, in collaboration with Auroville Art Service and Acres for Auroville. Until 21 February, a collection of sculptures, paintings, ceramics, photographs, and more offered by Auroville’s artists and well-wishers will be displayed for the community.

The 2020 edition of the Matrimandir desk calendar has many new features, is more colourful, and has a gold-embossed cover page. It has quotations from The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, months and days are printed in four languages and Darshan and other important days as well as moon days are indicated.

The organizing group has received overwhelming support from the community for the decision to ban photography at the 15th August bonfire. It was felt that this resulted in a much quieter, more concentrated and dedicated atmosphere.

Stereotypes play an important role in daily suffering. Especially when you belong to a minority. The majority can easily fall into humiliation games towards the minority, which can lead to depression or worse.

Flashback to 30 years ago: A 10 year old Auroville child comes across a haiku in a book of poems that describes the moss temple of Japan. It sounds so beautiful and the little girl imagines that this must be a place in a fairytale where everything is possible …

Marco joined Auroville 22 years ago. He reflects here on his many and varied activities, most of which are shaped by a love of the arts.

Dominique Darr left her body on December 25th in her apartment in Citadine at the age of 84. The cause of death, most probably, was diabetic coma.

Hamish Boyd’s poetry is by turns witty, enigmatic, profound, joyful, funny, anguished, angry and moving, mirroring, perhaps, the many elements of his nature.

The name of Dominique Darr is indissolubly connected to the early days of Auroville. Who in Auroville doesn’t know her photo of a lone granite stone with the letters AV painted on it, marking Auroville land?

Four years after publishing a book with selected photos of the Mother, we are happy to present the companion book with pictures of Sri Aurobindo.

Introducing photographer Sven Ulsa