Early Times is the opening chapter of Vasantha Yogananthan’s long-term project A Myth of Two Souls, a contemporary retelling of The Ramayana. That seven-chapter tale was first recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, and it stands as one of the founding epics of Hindu mythology. In this first book, Yogananthan addresses the beginnings: the youth and education of Rama, son of King Dasharatha, and of Sita, daughter of King Janaka, who do not yet know each other but are destined to meet and fall in love.
Since 2013, Yogananthan has been travelling from north to south India, retracing the itinerary of the epic’s heroes. Between fiction and reality, he deliberately blurs the lines through multiple aesthetic approaches: colour, black and white, hand-painted and illustrated photographs are interspersed with vernacular images to compose the layers of this story. The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted through time; for this book it has been retold by Indian writer Anjali Raghbeer. Yogananthan also commissioned Mahalaxmi & Shantanu Das, Indian artists specialising in the tradition of Madhubani painting, to create original illustrations for display alongside his photographic work.
The first edition was published by Chose Commune on 31 May 2016, with graphic design by Kummer & Herrman. It is a section-sewn hardcover measuring 24.5 by 30 cm, with 104 pages, 48 photographs, and text in English and French. The publication was shortlisted for the Arles Author Book Award 2016. A Myth of Two Souls was conceived as seven photobooks, one for each chapter of the epic.
Vasantha Yogananthan was born in 1985 in Grenoble and lives and works in Marseille. A self-taught photographer deeply attached to silver photography, he treats the book as a central object in his practice, which led him to co-found the publishing house Chose Commune. He has carried out projects over long periods, first in France on the beach at Piémanson (2009–2013), then in India and Sri Lanka around the myth of the Rāmāyana (2013–2021).
