Robyn Beeche shows her work on a tablet at her friend’s studio in Delhi on Saturday, March 16, 2015. Photo by Han Zhang.
NEW DELHI – After photographing some of the most alluring women on the fashion runways of London, Robyn Beeche now records the prayer lives of Hindus in the mystical city of Vrindavan. The transition from fashion to religion was a slow one. It began with a flirtation with India and Hinduism. But once Beeche made her move she left her old life behind and embraced one of the world’s oldest religious traditions.
Staying in a Delhi studio belonging to her friend Anjolie Ela Menon, an accomplished Indian contemporary artist, Beeche is quick to pull out her Samsung tablet and talk about her projects.
“My work is my worship,” she says.
Hinduism is highly aestheticized. The concept of darshan, a Sanskrit word that means to view, is a key aspect of the religion through the worship of the images of deities. In that sense, Beeche’s photographs of deities are ritualistic vehicles. Through them devotees can put a face on whom they are praising.
“My photographic work of religious happenings and festivals both inside and outside of many temples in India documents for posterity and possibly will help to perpetuate rituals – the aesthetics of which are constantly evolving,” she says.
Currently, Beeche is photographing the work of other artists, this time Muslims rather than Hindus. She is compiling From the Hand of Man, a book that covers all aspects of master carvers and inlay artisans who are engraving the Qur’anic verses on marble at a workshop in Jaipur. Their work will then grace the walls of the Al-Shamiya extension of the Masjid Al-Haram in Mecca.
Most of her work is centered in Vrindavan, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. As far as pilgrimage villages go, Vrindavan is the place in India to find Krishna worshippers. It houses the cultural ashram Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana, whose director is Shrivatsa Goswami. Beeche takes photographs of the ashram’s life, encompassing the people, the events, the deities, and the guru. Her work is kept in the ashram archives.
Jack Hawley, a professor at the Barnard College Department of Religion, is a close friend to Beeche. His own work is focused on the religious life in northern India, and often stays in the same house as Beeche on his travels to Vrindavan. He praises Beeche’s work for not only capturing the moment, but for providing meaning to the setting of Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana.
“She records people at worship and is a chronicler of how the deity appears and the art that surrounds him,” he says. This is a way of performing seva, the Hindu concept of service, for the community and the deity. “She’s an artist but she’s also recording the art of others.”
Beeche, now 70, left her native Australia for London in the 80s, as part of a creative coterie that saw talented artists, photographers, and designers head to London to further their art. For the beginning part of the decade, Beeche was a fashion photographer and found success shooting runway shows – including many of Vivienne Westwood’s early ones. She had been to India continuously, fallen for the joy of the Holi festival, and in 1985 finally decided to move to Vrindavan and photograph the life there.
Middlebury College Art History Professor Cynthia Packert says that Beeche brings to life how people view religious darshan.
“The heart and soul of darshan is to attain connection – the sensuousness of the visual experience. It’s like you’re experiencing darshan yourself,” says Packert.
Perhaps this translates from Beeche’s own experience as someone who has been “hindu-ised,” as the photographer says. Today, Beeche looks at Shrivatsa Goswami’s father, Parampujya Jagadguru Sri Caitanya Sampradaya Acarya Sri Purushottan Goswami Ji Maharaj, as her own guru. Her connection to India, and especially Vrindavan, is through more than her artwork.
“She looks upon imagery not only as a photographer but also as a devotee,” says Packert.
Beeche grew up as a practicing Christian and embraced Hinduism in 1990. With this she got a Hindu name, Suchitra, meaning beautiful picture.
“The main purpose was to be able to enter South Indian temples when on a pilgrimage. It was in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu that I was invited by the Guru to be initiated, which opened Pandora’s box for me personally,” says Beeche about her embrace of Hinduism.
Her work and life have captured the attention of many, including filmmaker Lesley Branagan, who made A Life Exposed, a 2013 documentary on Beeche. While her talent speaks for itself, it is her trajectory from the secular West to the loud, pluralistic India that most captures attention.
“My life is like green traffic lights – I’ve just gone through them. I’ve just accepted everything and had a go.”
To see Robyn Beeche’s work visit robynbeeche.com.