Raghubir Singh's unique photographs ofTamil Nadu express the tradition of temples,the richness and variety of life,change as well as continuity,in the environment and life in general。
To acclaimed photographer Raghubir Singh,geography is more than the sum ofthe earth's ever-shifting movements;it is one of the elemental forces that shape a culture's personality and history。Defined by the Coromandel Coast,the Cauvcry river,and the mountainous spine of the Western Ghats,Tamil Nadu is a land of rich traditions。Situated in South India,it was spared from the destruction of northern invaders,so that today Tamil Nadu iS still home to numerous ancient temples,rising tall over miles and miles of paddy and palm。Yet the signs of modernization are evident as well in factories and power windmills。As R.K.Naravan writes in his preface to the book,“Raghubir Singh's unique photographs of Zamil Nadu express the tradition of temples,the richness and variety Of life,change as well as continuiw in the environment and life in~eneral。”
Although India is his homeland,Tamil Nadu was a place of discovery for Singh,where as he says,“what,at first,had seemed remote and distant,transformed itself into the intimacy of ordinary human lives。”It is this intimacv,bred of his devotion to his culturc and aesthetic mastery,that makes this book as much a meditation on the nature of Singh's photo-graphic art as it is a long overdue portrait of South India。