THE ROMANCE OF RITUAL

Photographer Charles Fréger's latest book is an impressive attempt at documenting performers in ritual costumes across India

- Arshia Sattar

Over the past two decades, Charles Fréger has taken literally hundreds of portraits in many corners of the world. In portrait photography, the subject knows they are being photographed; they consent and participate, aware of the camera and the photographer, aware that they are presenting themselves as they want to be seen. Fréger’s portraits are often of people in uniform or, as here, of people wearing ritual masks and costumes. This is an interesting take on portraiture, to present people not as they are always, but as they are in special moments. Aam Aastha, shot entirely in India, shows us people celebrating—it’s festival time in these pictures and we see ordinary people as dancers and performers playing roles, calling the gods to earth, mimicking sacred and revered animals, enacting beloved and well-known stories, stepping out of their lives and out of their mundane selves to become part of something transcendental, more significant. In these moments, we can believe that the three worlds come together, myths are alive, and gods, humans and demons inhabit the same plane of existence.