Vasantha Yogananthan started his photography career in documentary, making waves in France for his intimate portrayal of the community that gathered each summer in France’s last wild beach, Piémanson. Though he loved his work, ‘meeting people he wasn’t supposed to meet’, he was inspired by the idea that photography could capture the space between fact and fiction. In this spirit, he traveled to India to explore how Indians experienced the Ramayana, a classical tale of the Hindu god Ram and his bride Sita, and how that tale informed a national identity.

A Myth of Two Souls, Vasantha’s newly interpreted take on the Ramayana told largely through his original photographs with people from all over India, is an exploration of a tale that transcends myth to reality. Like the tale itself, Vasantha’s imagery blurs the lines between documentary and art, to create a story about India today and the enduring legacy of the Ramayana on the national imagination and identity.