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The tree story

To Deidi Von Schaewen, trees are not just part of the landscape — they are sacred. In an interview to PRINCE FREDERICK, the Paris-based photographer talks about her passion

PHOTO R. SHIVAJI RAO

TRACKING TREES Deidi Von Schaewen

Deidi Von Schaewen is fascinated with things that are strikingly different. So, when the Association Francaise d'Actions Artistique (AFAA) offered this Paris-based photographer a project to create a database of images on sacred trees around India, she jumped at it. This was 15 years ago, and the AFAA grant was enough to cover only travel expenses for three months. However, she continues to take pictures of temples built around trees, because of her interest in unconventional places of worship. She is impressed with their spirituality; at the same time, she appreciates their inherent aesthetic value.

The German photographer has made 35 trips to India, which means her collection of sacred trees covers the length and breadth of the country. However, her exhibition (`Sacred Trees'), part of the ongoing "the tree of life festival", organised by the Prakriti Foundation in association with the Alliance Francaise and the Max Mueller Bhavan, is confined to photographs of trees found in Tamil Nadu. One odd picture is from Hampi. Most of the pictures were taken last year when she and her architect friend Sylvia travelled by road trying to find tree temples from Pondicherry to Madurai. They searched for six days, covering just 50 km each day, "which shows how often we stopped to take pictures". With a rich haul of 40 trees a day, the trip was fruitful.

Giant photographs

The giant-sized photos have been installed at select places in the city, the Nageshwara Rao Park in Mylapore receiving the lion's share of 10 photos. The trees are always surrounded by concrete. In some cases, they emerge out of the temples, through the ceiling. One sacred tree thrusts itself out of a thatched roof. Most of them are dedicated to local deities. Sacred threads meant for supplication are tied around some. One temple, found outside Madurai, is built around a banyan and a palm tree. Bells are hung on the aerial roots of the banyan. As her stay in India has always been short, Schaewen has never been able to gather adequate information about the trees she photographs. And for a book, she is in the process of collecting details to complement her photographs. Already she has about 20 books to her credit. They are based on gardening, interior design, Nature and travel. Two of them, "Inside Africa" and "Interiors of India", are widely known. For each of these books, Schaewen provided only photographs, while somebody else wrote the text.

A love for the old, the traditional and the natural runs through her work. She has done architecture-based photography around the world and is alarmed by the changes sweeping across India. She has heard planners say Mumbai could be modelled after Shanghai and Chennai after Singapore. She thinks these two cities are wrong models to follow. "In Shanghai, there are about 3,000 towers which have been created after destroying many old parts of the city. The demolitions were carried out with scant regard for the people living there. If Shanghai is still charming, it is because of the old places that have been left untouched."

She considers shopping malls a blotch on the landscape. "Creating new structures may be a necessity, but they can't be an excuse for destroying what is old and beautiful. No tourist will be interested in a shopping mall. What you might consider an old structure is often the only thing that draws him in."

Schaewen's `sacred trees' can be found on the hoardings outside Landmark (Nungambakkam), The Park hotel, Anand theatre, Chamier's Anokhi Store, and Amethyst — till January 20.

For details about the other programmes in `The Tree of Life Festival', call Prakriti Foundation at 22451195/1197/1198.

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