Salt

Wednesday June 1st, 2011

In 1930, in protest to the British salt tax, Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Ghandi and his followers walked 241 miles in what is now known as the Salt March. Their efforts laid the foundation for India’s independence from Britain 17 years later.

Inspired by Ghandi’s march, our India/England based photographer Brijesh Patel decided to retrace his path and document his findings along the way. Many hot days and photographs later, he was back home creating a beautiful handmade photo book, titled “Salt,” that is now on display in Paris at La Galerie Duboys.  Brijesh printed and bound the book himself, paying homage to Ghandi’s high regard for village arts and hand crafted objects.

Brijesh spoke about shooting the photos,

My first excursion along the Salt March route was with a Polaroid camera and a notebook. I wanted the experience to be loose and visceral. The images and notes I made on this trip became my guide for the future trips.

Following Gandhi’s footsteps has not been an easy task. I was seeking out the modern elements and inheritors of his philosophy. Lone trees and Gandhi’s writings became my companion as I looked for shelter, waiting out the white glare of the afternoon sun, reaching temperatures of up to 122 °F before setting up my camera. The long time it took to prepare each shot made me realize that it was in trying and failing and with patience and servitude that I would begin to witness life as it happened along the Salt March route today.

I worked mostly during the early morning or early evening. These were special moments for Gandhi. They were a time for prayer, meditation and writing of his thoughts and ideas for the future of India and its people.

He also explained a little about the creation of his book,

Once I started making the book, the most stressful part of the process was the threads. I used six needles. The possibilities of getting tangled were many and at times I was standing on my kitchen table to get the full length of the thread into a straight line.

I am new to making books and binding them and there are many pitfalls, but the most challenging would be running out of thread, which I did several times when I was making a dummy. So for the final book I made sure I did not!

For more information on how the book was made, you can read Brijesh’s production notes, or if you’re lucky enough to be in Paris, stop by the gallery and check it out firsthand.

- Maria