She has been living in India for 15 years. Magali Couffon de Trevros, trained as a graphic designer and textile designer, applied her skills in different firms.
“It was getting so boring, I realised I had to do something else with my time. Particularly because my kids had grown up,” said Bengaluru-based Trevros. Her show, Tribal lights, is on at the Alliance Francaise.
Three years ago she focussed on photograph and also took lessons. Then just a few months back, she joined her photography teacher for a visit to a tribal festival in Odisha. It happens each November. Her teacher regularly shoots in remote parts of the country, sometimes doing projects for NGOs.
The result is plenty of attractive pictures of tribals, mostly women, with details of tattoos, jewellery and clothes. “It wasn’t an anthropological study, so I didn’t go into details of where tribes were from. But I remember some I met were Parojas, who were farmers. I was drawn to aesthetics. look at the adornments.” They live in Koraput. The region is apparently a Naxal corridor.
Some of the photos were transferred to leather, some to metal and canvas. Magali does the framing herself. There was a lot of beauty in the eye of this beholder. The show goes on till May 11.
Text by SM Verghis