Yogananthan Vasantha, Jatinder Singh DurhailayAmma

“Amma is the seventh and final part of Vasantha Yogananthan’s ongoing project, A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary retelling of the Ramayana. Drawing on the iconography generated by the myth and its pervasiveness in Indian society, Vasantha Yogananthan has traced the route taken by the heroes of the epic from North to South India.

Amma focuses on Princess Sita and deals with the concept of ‘purity’. Far from being a happy ending, the end of the Ramayana forces us to question Rama’s behaviour and his obedience to the rules established by a patriarchal society. In contrast, Sita’s beliefs and actions are free of culture. Sita means furrow in Sanskrit, she is the daughter of the Earth.

The images that make up Amma take us from the coastline of Sri Lanka to the city of Ayodhya and the jungles of Bihar, India. Their chromatic range recreates a world where civilisation gradually disappears to make way for a purely metaphysical space. The Ramayana has no end and no beginning. It represents the circle of life and will therefore always be there.”