It Takes A Village

Location: Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India
Date: August 2019
Photographer: Kate Holland
Home Country: United States
University Affiliation: Undergraduate Student
Category: Arts & Culture
Award: Honorable Mention

In the artist's own words: "As the monsoon rains cloud over the high mountain caps and rage with endless fury on the lands below, the activity of the villages seem to only get more busy. Monsoon season is an auspicious time, and the villagers are always seeking to please the gods. Here, one can see three men as they prepare a village-wide feast. This auspicious event requires the work of many young men who prepare a meal for the village in honor of the gods. Wearing unstitched cloth and nothing on their feet, these men must maintain the purity of the sacred kitchen space.

While doing ethnographic fieldwork in the Kullu Valley, I was privileged to partake in many religious events. Here, I was captivated by the way that one could tell such a profound story of cultural significance without even depicting the full person. These events are about more than the people involved and there is something to be said for telling a narrative without implicitly stating that the form of a person is at the heart of the story they are leading."