Tarun Kalyani’s New Photoseries Is A Nostalgic Ode To The Magical Aesthetics Of The 90s

The word 'nostalgia' originated in the 17th century, when a Swiss medical student deemed it as the disease of homesickness. Today, while the definition of the term has changed, representing a feeling rather than a faux medical condition, 'nostalgia' still holds the same core feeling of yearning. It’s a bittersweet ache, like a sore muscle or the feeling of pushing down on a bruise, when we reminisce on the past.

Our craving for nostalgia only seems to have grown in recent years. The 2020s are the era of the throwback, as we all try to escape the difficulties and pains of the current day. We’re all attempting to capture the world through a sentimental lens, embracing vintage aesthetics in our fashion, art, and beyond. This is why we’re seeing the return of digital cameras and a slew of apps specifically designed to mimic the visuals of yesteryear. And yet, despite all these tools at our disposal, the charm of the past is difficult to capture. It’s obvious when a photo has been doctored, depriving us of the ephemeral, magical quality we’re searching for.

Tarun Kalyani is one of very few artists who has managed to authentically capture the feeling of the past. The Delhi-based photographer recently shot a campaign for homegrown brand Ganga Fashions’ latest collection ‘Kahaniyaan,’ blasting us right back to the 80s and 90s through his work. These pictures, which he playfully captioned '90s girl remix' on his social media, could easily be mistaken as xerox copies from an old photo album. Their only tell is that they’re higher definition than the images we find in our mom’s old collections, most of which have eroded in quality over time.

Kalyani’s pictures themselves are simple enough, showing us young women going about their day to day lives. They’re munching on popcorn while messing around with an old television, flipping through magazines from the mid-80, and holding now-hard-to-find Phantom cigarettes. In many of the photos, the models look at the camera with the nonchalance only women who hadn’t over-practiced their camera smiles, possible only in the pre-selfie era. 

When “nostalgia” was still deemed an illness, its only cure was a return home. Now our homesickness is temporal rather than geographic, and yet, its resolution still seems to be the same. Even though times are so different now, for better and worse, than they once were, there’s comfort in knowing that art still allows us to live in the past, if only for a moment. 

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