Presented to Ayyanar each year during elaborate festivals, these offerings are made to assure the protection and the well-being of villagers, their families, their cattle and the harvest.
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) along with Sanskriti Pratisthan, New Delhi presents for the first time a visual documentation of the manifold aspects of the living cult to Ayyanar, a guardian deity.
From Earth to Earth: Devotion and Terracotta Offerings in Tamil Nadu, a two-week long exhibition at IGNCA,unveils the making and rituals of terracotta figures of Ayyanar cult, throwing light on the most extraordinary accomplishment of terracotta offerings in the world. The exhibition commenced on February 20 and is on till March 10.
The exhibition, a presentation of Julie Wayne’s 10 year long project in Tamil Nadu would showcase approximately 300 of her select photographs out of her collection of 1400. Photographer Julie Wayne spent her years exploring both the material and immaterial aspects of the living cult to Ayyanar, surveying and documenting more than seventy shrines.
Along with 99 framed photographs, the exhibition also showcasea 200 photographs through a slideshow and a 35 minute long video of the festivals of Ayyanars celebrated in Sacred Groves during spring season by all the related clan.
From the characteristic life-sized terracotta horses towering within secluded shrines to humble, foot-high clay ‘dolls’ and cows amassed under a centuries-old neem tree, the earthen gifts celebrate the cycles of nature and bridge the mortal to the divine.
When: On till March 10 Where: IGNCA
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) along with Sanskriti Pratisthan, New Delhi presents for the first time a visual documentation of the manifold aspects of the living cult to Ayyanar, a guardian deity.
From Earth to Earth: Devotion and Terracotta Offerings in Tamil Nadu, a two-week long exhibition at IGNCA,unveils the making and rituals of terracotta figures of Ayyanar cult, throwing light on the most extraordinary accomplishment of terracotta offerings in the world. The exhibition commenced on February 20 and is on till March 10.
The exhibition, a presentation of Julie Wayne’s 10 year long project in Tamil Nadu would showcase approximately 300 of her select photographs out of her collection of 1400. Photographer Julie Wayne spent her years exploring both the material and immaterial aspects of the living cult to Ayyanar, surveying and documenting more than seventy shrines.
Along with 99 framed photographs, the exhibition also showcasea 200 photographs through a slideshow and a 35 minute long video of the festivals of Ayyanars celebrated in Sacred Groves during spring season by all the related clan.
From the characteristic life-sized terracotta horses towering within secluded shrines to humble, foot-high clay ‘dolls’ and cows amassed under a centuries-old neem tree, the earthen gifts celebrate the cycles of nature and bridge the mortal to the divine.
When: On till March 10 Where: IGNCA