Braj & Krishna’s Land

Govardhan in the late afternoon, when the parikrama path is still warm and the cattle are walking back. Barsana on the day of Lathmar Holi, when the colour stays in the air for hours. Vrindavan at the hour Banke Bihari opens his curtains, brief as a glimpse. The Yamuna at dawn from the boats at Mathura, the river flat and the sky the same temperature as the water.

Compositions across this collection paint the small country of Braj — the eighty-four-square-mile region where Krishna’s lila is said to have unfolded. Each painting is set in one named place at one named hour: Manasi Ganga at Govardhan, Kusum Sarovar at sunset, the Rangili Gali in Barsana, the Nidhivan in Vrindavan, the Prem Mandir at night.

This is the country the work returns to most.