The project documents part of the traditional India, avoiding exoticism and stereotyped images that are part of our country’s imagery. It is a portrait of anonymous cities, ordinary architecture and spontaneous urbanism; in which the great iconic buildings are not the protagonists. The architecture loses its monumental character and reconnects to its context, the urban space.
Emphasis is placed on the India that is being lost to Western modernity, to its
detriment. The country is absorbing change seeing it as a symbol of progress and economic development. The aim of the exhibition is to reflect on the local environment, the authenticity of the rural world and the architectural tradition – sustainable and climatically efficient.
From the concept of entropy, as an aesthetic search the artist’s gaze spontaneously finds a balance between the parts. A vision that strips the city of chaos and portrays the urban form to show us a quiet reality. Small urban fragments are selected to compose a more realistic view of the rural area of this country.
Clara Pardo Gromaches is an Architect graduated from the University of Girona and La Sapienza University of Rome; and an architectural photographer from the Institute of Photographic Studies of Catalonia.
Photography is the means of expression that has accompanied her since she was 14, when she bought a digital camera and undertook with her father her first trip to India, 14 years ago. Since that time she continuously visits India.
She currently works as an Architect, architectural photographer with the firm “Clara Gromaches” and visiting Professor of Photography at the University of Girona.
© text and pictures by Clara Pardo Gromaches
