Thomas Kelly – A window into the world of Sadhus
Thomas Kelly, the noted photographer, tells many stories through his stunning images. A photo-activist, he has opened windows into the worlds of marginalized people and ostracized communities. Many of these journeys into little known lives have been in collaboration with major social organizations including UNICEF, Save the Children Fund, and the Aga Khan Foundation. For the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he recorded the lives of sex workers and prostitution across South Asia, and for the UK Department for International Development he has documented child prostitution, trafficking, conflict and resolution, and water and sanitation issues.
Kelly, who lives in Nepal, is also a photo artist who through the lens of his camera captures the ethereal beauty of remote landscapes and ordinary people. These editorial images have appeared in major international publications from The New York Times to Le Figaro. New Yorkers got to meet him recently at the Rubin Museum of Art for the launch of his book and the accompanying exhibit: ‘Body Language: The Yogis of India and Nepal’
These powerful images take you into the little known world of sadhus – the ascetics, mystics and yogis who decorate their bodies with religious markings and are often completely naked, as they renounce material trappings in their quest for liberation from suffering. Kelly, who has spent years with sadhus, calls them “disturbing, annoying, inspiring, exasperating, irrational, wise and powerful.” He has also visited all the Kumbh Melas where the sadhus congregate, and he says that some of the most memorable images that he has shot have been in these grand unions of the holy men.
Browse this exhibition at the Rubin Museum (till May 30, 2011) and you will find the paths to enlightenment are many. Some sadhus are vividly decorated with colors, others daubed with ash from the crematoriums – using their body as a canvas for their beliefs while others even discard their clothing as a way of setting themselves free, on their path to finding moksha or spiritual enlightenment.
The large tilakas or markings on their body also identify which religious group they belong to. According to Kelly, who has lived with them for many years in Nepal, these sadhus are like “a living question that people have forgotten to ask. Their painted bodies,” he says, “confront us with essential questions at the heart of existence…provoking the questions, ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I need?’ ‘What is really important?’”
So as we ponder this, we can take a stroll through the beautiful Rubin Museum of Art situated in frenzied Manhattan and see how the sadhus are trying to make sense of the world. I’m always intrigued by the fact that this gorgeous museum devoted to the soul and to spirituality was once a highly materialistic shopping heaven – Barneys! Now to walk through it is like being in a temple of peace, and each of us is free to find our own path to salvation.
information about the Images:
Thomas Kelly
Textual Tilaka, 2002
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Courtesy of the artist
Thomas Kelly
Sadhu Brothers, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
20 x 30 in.
Thomas Kelly
Nag-Phani Baba, 1989
Varanasi, India
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Thomas Kelly
Ektara, 2010
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Thomas Kelly
Panch-Agni-Tapasya, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Thomas Kelly
Bom Shankar, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Courtesy of the artist
Thomas Kelly
Hanuman Das, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Thomas Kelly
Aghori, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
20 x 30 in.
Thomas Kelly
Smoking Sadhu, 2000
Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal
Archival Lambda color print
40 x 26 in.
Photos (C) and courtesy of Thomas Kelly
5 Comments
Amazing photos you captured of these fascinating sadhus…I look forward to getting a copy of these wandering nomadic renunciates. Thank you for Sharing these images here.
Hi Priti,
I’ve sent an email to the address you have provided. I also noticed that he has a book for sale that is a collection of all of the images. Thank you.
Priti, thank you for the details – I am sure this will be useful to other readers as well. I will also email this information to Rayudu as it was long overdue.
Dear Rayudu Choudry:
I am Priti Thapa, assistant to Mr.Thomas Kelly (Photographer). To answer your question YES, we do sell prints, please view his work here http://thomaslkelly.smugmug.com/BOOK-PUBLISHED/Sadhus-the-Great-Renouncers/6984544_7Npaj
You can contact us @ tkelly@photo.wlink.com.np if you want a print, or review more of his work, or just to share his working experience at Kumbha Mela.
All the very best for your holy trip.
Interesting pictures…I am planning for the 2013 Mela myself. Does he have any large photographs for sale or only for public displays?