TOMATOES, TEA & PHOTOGRAPHY

In the Himalayas, hill dwellers are models for former street-fashion photographer Manou. His work has been exhibited in the 'Everyday Ordinary' series, scooped out of a larger project on the Himalayas, at Gurugram's Museo Camera.

- PANKIL JHAJHRIA

N Ladakh's Garkon village, an elderly woman named Tsewang Dolma was busy drying tomatoes on a sunlit terrace for winter storage before the season would knock on her doors. It was then that Manou came across the 70-year-old lady. The red tomatoes, glistening golden in sunlight, now are a part of Manou's photo album.

The photo shows slices of tomatoes, turned golden-orange in colour, spread across a white sheet. In another picture Dolma can be seen looking sideways at the camera, directly—her expressions are sharp, with lips curved in a small grin. Dolma sits on a green tarpaulin, holding a knife in one hand and a tomato in another. Numerous other slices spread across the large green sheet—some uncut ones kept beside the old lady. Large mountains and tall, green trees peek in the background.

Similar photos by Manou, depicting the daily life of people living in the Himalayas, have been featured at the exhibition 'Everyday Ordinary', at Museo Camera Gallery in Gurugram, which will be on view till November 2.

Beauty in the ordinary