From 2003 to 2008 I traveled to India to shoot photos and video for a project on the Hindu God, Ganesh called Discovering Ganesh. He is known as the Patron of the Arts, Lord of Beginnings and Remover of Obstacles.

The Ganesh Chaturthi is a ten-day festival, which celebrates Lord Ganesh and takes place throughout India. It reaches its pinnacle in Mumbai where it suffuses the entire city in an atmosphere of celebratory worship. Thousands of elaborate, colorful, and monumental sculptures of Ganesh are displayed in homes and public places. Throughout the festival the citizens of Mumbai visit the many Ganesh mandaps or ‘installations’. There are spontaneous outbreaks of song and dance in the streets, unapologetic assaults on passers-by of colored powder, and a palpable sense of deep devotion and sanctity. The event culminates in a lively and passionate procession of Ganesh statues into the Arabian Sea, symbolically dissolving Ganesh into the water so that he will come back next year.

For more information about this project please visit: http://www.discoveringganesh.com