MATRIMANIA
2010—

Sony World Photography Awards 2011, finalist - Arts & Culture

We in India take our weddings very seriously. Sometimes, a wedding set is designed for impact -- it needs to strike an everlasting impression with guests who might arrive in the thousands, sending out a clear message of the family's social standing. At other times, the sets are traditional containers within which a marriage takes place.

I have been documenting wedding sets and little associated details at weddings because I find them to be fascinating metaphors of my country's penchant for order and chaos; colour and noise; and the peculiar sense of taste and design or the lack thereof.

Mahesh Shantaram
January 2011