Illuminated letters or temple decorations? Palm leaf painting dates back to medieval India and survives among artisans in a few small villages of Orissa. Back before there were computer screens to write on, there was this stuff called paper, made from plant material. It’s true. And back before digital cameras and Photoshop, there was an […]
Sandy Ao, photographer and friend, showers us with West Bengal’s cultures of rain. Note: In May, reading reports of cyclone Aila that struck West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh, we contacted our friend in Kolkata Sandy Ao, with alarm. Over the past several months, she’s been writing to us about how rain shapes the culture of […]
At Hinduism’s festival of siblings, every brother deserves flowers at the wrist. Many thanks to Sandy Ao for touching, with beauty and ritual, a topic still beyond the reach of our ten-foot pole. Brothers and Sisters. Full moon of the Hindu month of Shravan is the festival of Rakhi in India: August 5, this year. […]
Though the great Lord Shiva asked only for fasting and a simple bael leaf offering, today’s pilgrims come with milk, herb, and thousands of flowers. “I am still dazed!” wrote Sandy Ao. And who wouldn’t be?—before countless bouquets like these, alongside pots of milk with cannabis sprinkled on top. Last Sunday, Sandy visited the Indian […]
Stumbling upon a strange new variety of garlands at the flower market, Sandy Ao starts clicking and minds start bending. Clue: this plant is also a salt slaker. A red mystery’s been brewing here at HFP… ever since photographer Sandy Ao celebrated the New Year with a trip to the Mullickghat flower market in Kolkata […]
Sandy Ao takes us to Kolkata’s huge flower market, destroyed by fire Friday night, back in business by Saturday. Fire broke out Friday night, April 11, at the immense Mullickghat flower market in Kolkata, India. Eighteen fire engines were called to the scene along the Hoogly River, as blazes swept down Strand Road, charring more […]
Sandy Ao brings a chronicle of the Durga Puja, honoring Hinduism’s Great Goddess and overflowing with flowers in the great city of West Bengal. “So many pandals, so little time!” (“So many” as in 20,000 of these temporary shrines, and that’s in Kolkata alone!) Headlines of India’s newspapers convey the frenetic and happy spirit of […]
Sandy Ao finds Calcutta’s floral artisans at work on wedding crowns. In May, Calcutta’s Mullickghat—one of the oldest and busiest outdoor flower markets in the world—sparkles. There’s romance in the air and, in nearly every stall, bushels of sweet white blossoms. Photographer Sandy Ao writes, “This season it’s more Tuberose and less of Marigold. The […]
Below the Hoogly River bridge, gold shines through Kolkata’s flower market. The authorities have authorized and planners planned before. Now, could it really be that Kolkata’s age-old flower market will come indoors? Our friend photographer Sandy Ao sent a bounty of photographs from Mullickghat, as the wholesale market’s known. Since she took these shots last […]