Ghar by Anu Kumar

The debut book from Melbourne-based photographer Anu Kumar, ‘Ghar’ documents the first time she returned to her birthplace of Kavi Nagar, India, since childhood.

Just 21 at the time, Kumar felt adrift, discomfited by not knowing her place or identity in that context. She started taking photos as an exercise in learning how to be Indian.

Shot over a period of five years, the soft gaze of Kumar’s images meanders between the rooms and courtyards of the family home and out onto the neighbouring streets, piecing together the symbolic and aesthetic markers of a personal and cultural heritage, as formal portraits give way to intimate scenes of daily tasks and familial rituals.