The Centre d’Art in Auroville kicks off an eclectic calendar of events on August 1 featuring 10 art exhibitions by Indian, French, Korean and Japanese artists, workshops on analog photography, artists-in-residency and art film screenings through the year.

On Friday, an exhibition gets underway featuring of a collection of photos of Auroville, taken over 40 years, by the late lensman John Mandeen.

John Mandeen came to erstwhile Pondicherry from California, in October 1968 as a 24-year-old youth and was accepted by the Mother as an Ashramite of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He helped set up the first screen printing workshop in the Ashram Press. All birthday cards with the Mother’s symbol in those days were screen printed there besides book covers. Years laters, he would be involved in projects of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives—he was deeply engaged with the project until his passing on July 7, 2024.

Mandeen took up photography in the late 1970s and was seriously into the pursuit by the 1980’s, documenting Auroville in all its aspects very extensively, including the Matrimandir.

John Mandeen, whose photographs will be exhibited at an expo at Auroville’s Centre d’Art, with Dalai Lama who visited the spiritual township in 1993.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

In 1994, he took photos for the first Auroville Exhibition at the visitor’s centre which was updated several times over the years. He was the photographer for the Auroville Today team and also taught photography at the school in Aspiration school to many children in Auroville.

The retrospective, on till August 9, will be accompanied by screenings of Dominique Darr’s photos.

On Independence Day, the Dominique Darr Grant Exhibition (August 15-23) will get underway showcasing the talent of five young Aurovillians who won a grant to build a photographic work around a specific theme. Their photos will be a reflection around “The sun, the moon and the truth – Three things cannot be long hidden. (Gautama Buddha).”

Centre d’Art will host two artists in residence– Soumya Sankar Bose, Indian photographer quite known abroad, and Nandita Sharma, Indian illustrator and storyteller based in London whose graphic novel, “Aurowill”, is planned to be a compendium to weave together facts, myths, stories, riddles, essays, diagrams, illustrations and itineraries to explore every aspect of life in the township.

Cuddalore-based artist P. Saravanan showcases his art from September 5 – 24. Bojagi Art expo (October 21-25), features traditional Korean art form of wrapping cloth or textiles.

Foulax, an Aurovilian teacher at Transition school, known for his photomontages, gifts created for his students when they graduate the 8th grade, placing them in surreal worlds and Chennai-based artist Rishi are featured from October 31 to November 15.

The abstract patterns of Marie-Claire Barsotti, French native Aurovilian, are on show from November 28 to December 17.

The other expos (December 26-January 10) are Madhuri K’s “Fieldnotes”, a black and grey photograph series of paddy and dairy study that visually represents personal and ecological growth with flora and fauna and Bengaluru-based Sameer Rao who hold a passing image through a natural strong material like wood.

Ok Jeong Lee, of Korean origin, examines the unseen environmental impact of human activity, using discarded masks as a lens at the exhibition Jan 23 Jan – Feb 11) while Jyoti Naoki Eri, Aurovilian of Japanese descent showcases paintings, ceramics and sound art installations (Feb 20- Mar 11).