Lot 1152: ATUL BHALLA

ATUL BHALLA
(b. 1964)
Yamuna Morning - V
signed and dated in Hindi (lower right); signed in Hindi; dated and numbered 'Yamuna Morning V 08 4/5' (on the reverse)
digital print on archival paper
Sheet Size: 112 x 243 cm. (44 x 95 1/2 in.)
Print size: 91.5 x 222.2 cm. (36 x 87 1/2 in. )
edition 4/5
Executed in 2008

The Yamuna river, a tributary of the Ganges that runs through Delhi, India, serves as both a commercial lifeline to residents and as a site of religious and cultural ceremony. In this work, Atul Bhalla refocuses one's attention to the quiet simplicity and stillness of the river, the morning after celebrations in honour of the revered goddess Yamuna from Hindu mythology. The young male figure, captured twice in this single diptych-formed photograph, wades in the winter's low tides in search of coins from the offerings to the goddess. There is a sense of fragility and timeless power of the sacred river seen here, suggesting its continued ability to sustain and nurture; aspects often lost in an industrialized society.