Auroville 80

It is sometimes difficult to place the 1980s in Auroville. The 1970s was a period of pioneering and high drama – including, as it does, Mother’s passing and the conflict with the Society – while the 1990s witnessed a Cambrian explosion of projects. In contrast, the ‘80s seemed a quieter decade, even though it saw rather vicious internal strife, as well as the establishment of SAIIER and, of course, of the Auroville Foundation itself. However, Nadia Loury’s bilingual (French/English) photographic book, Auroville 80, helps us look at the 80s with new eyes. For what she captures are not the iconic moments but, as the sub-title suggests, ‘the poetry of daily life’. So we see Aurovilians working in the fields, meeting under the Banyan, drinking tea at the Matrimandir, organizing food deliveries at Pour Tous. It could become a catalogue of trivia, yet through Nadia’s lens something else shines through: a sense of perseverance, dedication, fraternity and even a quiet joy in what w...
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