India, Part III: Architecture Wears a Sari

Culturally, India is a bit like quicksand, a thing, once fallen in, never comes out.  It is simply absorbed into the mire of pluralism so that even a dominant architectural movement like Modernism somehow loses connection with its founding principles.  It becomes a thing among many useful by practice and imitation, a building method to be decorated according to B.C. motifs and assigned value that has nothing whatsoever to do with its European architectural roots.  Imprints of ancient patterns are embedded in architectural concrete forms as surely as the village weaver works the history and geography of India into the sari on his loom.

All photos taken in Bhubaneshwer, 2012.

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