Rural, Raw, & Rooted: A Homegrown Photoseries Captures The Beauty Of Imperfections

"Celebrating the raw, rooted and the rural."

India’s rich ethos is rooted in a deep reverence of the feminine. Unlike Western cultures, it thrives off an unabashed embrace of sensuality; praising the natural female form and its unique connection to the divine. Our female deities and historical idols all showcased this appreciation of aesthetics and the sensory experience. While other cultures often shy away from exploring these themes, South Asian cultures embrace these realities and portray them in artistic ways. 

In present times, it is important for us to reevaluate and reassert these standards. Questioning the mainstream gaze, visual art director Charu (roofa) Srikanth subtly dissects our limited notions of sensuality by using a seductive and fluid aesthetic. The young creative is known for their nature inspired imagery that utilises fire, water, earth and wind to narrate vivid tales of sensuality.

The imagery also questions our restrictive ideas of feminine beauty and invites us to inspect it against a rural backdrop. We hardly see rural women portrayed like this and it is in this way that the stylist is breaking the mould and experimenting with a new subject and medium. Painting a raw portrayal of the simplistic beauty juxtaposed with the fluidity of nature, the artist finds visual delight in everything real from texture, flaws, pigments to scars and other details. The beauty in all of it provides the joy that Charu seeks while styling and directing people and visuals.

You can find more of their work here.

Photography and Vision by @anitakamaraj
In Shot @_ms.raju_
Hair & Makeup by @makeupbysreshta
Assisted by @ashwin_guru17

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

Sutej Singh Pannu's Latest Photoseries Captures The Humility & Spirit Of Punjab's People

Juswin Jacob's Minimal-Maximalist Photoseries Is As Visually Striking As They Come

A Photoseries Immortalizing The Noble Sacrifice Of An Unsung Female Freedom Fighter