Making Connections

New Images
Making Connections
Tracing Experiences

"an intimate sense of connection"

Rekha Vijayashankar and other photographers involved with the DakshinaChitra Museum project connected images created by Elizabeth Gwillim and Mary Symonds with people and places in Chennai today, creating a contemporary archive of new images that link past and present.

Rounded stone steps lead up to an imposing white entranceway opening onto a painted statue and trees in the background, with a second statue and cross above, and decorative white arches decreasing in size on either side; buildings behind it to the left.
Rekha Vijayashankar
St. Thomas Mount Church | Église du mont Saint-Thomas, Chennai
2 people sit and 2 stand next to shrubs in the middle of a grassy landscape with hills and low mountains in the right background; to the left an empty white flagpole supported by 4 cables.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
The Mount - 8 miles from Madras | Le Mont - Sis à 13 km de Madras
A tree with a single thin leaning trunk, tall exposed roots, and dense long narrow green leaves; in the right background tall thin palm trees; in the foreground plants with long narrow pale green leaves.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Thiruporur road, Tamil Nadu | Chemin Thiruporur, dans le Tamil Nadu
A large tree with multiple thin white trunks and upright exposed roots supporting the bases, long narrow green leaves, and pale green round fruits hanging at the top; to the left a man sitting, a man standing, and a smaller leafy tree; in the background more trees and small figures.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
Pandanus Tree - Sort of Bread Fruit | Pandanus - Arbre à pain
4 stone columns in a square supporting an intricately carved flat roof with a stone figure at each corner; yellow 3-wheeled auto rickshaws on the street to the right; a large tree, fence and low buildings in the background.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Mamallapuram Temple, front view | Façade du temple Mamallapuram
Steps lead to a raised platform with 4 columns supporting a simple roof; 3 figures stand on the left; to the right, figures in white by a stone wall at the base of a large ornate brown tiered tower (gopuram); in the right foreground 2 figures on a rocky hill; in the left background trees and mountains.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
Buildings attached to a pagoda, 1804 | Immeubles rattachés à une pagode, 1804
A yellowish building with a carved design along the top edge sits before a mountain of rocks and rubble; a gravel road on the right; in the left foreground a low yellowish monument.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Gingee, Tamil Nadu | Gingee, dans le Tamil Nadu
A white building with minarets on a low stone platform; figures before it to the right; behind it to the left a woman and child, and a low colonnaded building with a brown roof in the distance; in the foreground 2 stone monuments, and to the right a woman in white before the entrance to an ornate building.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
A Mohamedan Tomb & Minarets | Tombeau et minarets musulmans
From a rocky outcrop, a vast view of fields, trees, and a body of water to the right, with mountains in the background to the left and a lower hill to the right.
Rekha Vijayashankar
View from hill, Gingee, Tamil Nadu | Vue d’une colline, à Gingee, dans le Tamil Nadu
On a rocky mountain, a woman carries gold pots on her head, a man holds a long stick, and a woman crouches with a child; 2 figures beyond them to the right lower in the rocks; 2 figures at the top of the cliff on the far right; in the background a grassy landscape and mountains.
Gwillim, Elizabeth, 1763-1807 | 1763 à 1807
Indian family in rocky landscape | Famille indienne dans un paysage rocheux
Large square water tank surrounded by wide flights of stone steps leading down to the water; a small stone temple in the centre, trees and low colourful buildings behind; in the background a mountain with twin pagodas and a flag at its peak.
Anwar
Thiruneermalai, Chennai | Thiruneermalai, à Chennai
In the foreground, wide stone steps facing right, trees, and scattered groups of people; in the right middleground a ruined building before a stone wall surrounding a brown tiered tower (gopuram); columned buildings to the left; in the background a mountain with 2 gopurams at its peak.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
Pagodas | Pagodes
A row of low yellow buildings with large square barred windows along the left side of a paved road; telephone poles and wires over the buildings; trees on the right, and a motorbike on either side.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Old houses on Thiruneermalai Road | Maisons anciennes sur le chemin Thiruneermalai
People by the entrance of a building fronted by a low stone wall topped with columns; children sit and stand on the wall; to the right, 2 figures and a child beyond a man under a tall tree; on the far right, figures in white by a wall, thatched houses, trees, and mountains in the distance.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
A Hindoo Village | Village hindou
A figure walks in the distance along a narrow paved road towards a hill of rocks and rubble; a large dark overhanging tree on the right side of the road, and tall shrubs on the left.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Gingee Road, Tamil Nadu | Chemin Gingee, dans le Tamil Nadu
A row of large trees stands before a white structure with multiple dark archways on the right. In the distance to the left are 2 oxen and a cart, with a mountain in the background.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
Banyan Trees | Banyans
View over a wide river with dense vegetation on the right bank, a green island in the centre, and a cluster of white buildings in the background on the left bank.
Rekha Vijayashankar
View from the Adyar Bridge | Vue du pont Adyar
2 small male figures, a cart, 2 oxen, and a long-legged bird stand in the left foreground, before a vast coastal scene with a low white building with a brown roof to the left, and dense vegetation and an arched bridge leading off to the right. Tall palm trees pepper the scene. In the distance a domed building on the shore and a ship on the water.
Gwillim, Sir Henry, 1760-1837 | Gwillim, M. Henry, 1760 à 1837
Scene from the grounds of the St Thome House | Scène de la maison de Santhome
Dense green shrubs and trees along the left bank of a canal, with palm trees at the end reflected in the water; a sandy spit in the distance on the right with more water beyond.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Vegetation along canal, near Marina Beach, Tamil Nadu | Végétation en abord d’un canal, près de la plage Marina, dans le Tamil Nadu
A curving river with dense forest on the left bank and a sandy shore on the right with the remains of a fallen tree in the right foreground; in the centre a small figure stands on the sand.
Unknown artist | Artiste inconnu
[Untitled] | [Sans titre]
2 men standing in mud bending over buckets, to their right a woman throwing an orange cloth over the mud, and another man walking over; in the background, water, a green plain, and a mountain to the left.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Chengalpet (Chengalpattu), Tamil Nadu | Chengalpet (Chengalpattu), dans le Tamil Nadu
2 figures on a narrow earth path with a woman in blue carrying a basket on her head walking towards them; in the middleground dense trees and 3 straw huts; mountains in the background.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
[Untitled] | [Sans titre]
3 men barefoot and bare-chested, each wearing a white cloth draped over one shoulder and a long white narrow skirt, stand facing each other next to the low white stone wall of a water tank filled with lily pads; trees in the background.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Purohit before Mamallapuram Temple tank | Purohita devant une citerne du temple Mamallapuram
3 men (Brahmins) with their hair tied back, wearing yellow and red cloth draped across their chest and back, and short trousers, stand facing each other near a woman and child by rocks to the left; a tower or gopuram behind trees in the background.
Symonds, Mary, 1772-? | 1772 à ?
Brahams | Brahmanes
A man with a white head covering, yellow top, cream-coloured cloth with gold edging draped over his shoulder and left arm, and white trousers with gold edging, stands barefoot before palm trees, holding a narrow closed palm leaf book.
Rekha Vijayashankar
Man with manuscript | Homme et manuscrit
A man with a black moustache, 3 lines painted on his forehead, a white head-covering, a long white skirt with gold trim and a long-sleeved knee-length white top tied at the throat and chest with 4 black lines on the right upper-arm, holds a long narrow palm-leaf book.
Gwillim, Elizabeth, 1763-1807 | 1763 à 1807
A native with his book on palm leaves | Indigène et son livre sur des feuilles de palmier

Additional images are available in the Collections.