Memoire Temporelle

Memoire Temporelle, by photographer Kalpesh Lathigra, is the third exhibition in Homecoming, a series dedicated to contemporary photography conceived by Irene Alison and curated by Irene Alison and Paolo Cagnacci. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Forma Edizioni and Associazione Infoto Firenze, with the support of Gruppo AF and Banca Ifigest. The theme of roots and the search for self through the time and space of memory lies at the heart of Homecoming, a series conceived by Irene Alison for Rifugio Digitale and devoted entirely to contemporary photography. The third instalment in the series, … Memoire Temporelle, by British photographer of Indian descent Kalpesh Lathigra, is a journey within a journey. If Homecoming sets out to explore the concept of “home”, navigating the fragile balance between global interconnectedness and the need to find one’s own place in the world, Lathigra’s work traces a path backwards, following the thread that connects him to his ancestral culture. From England, where he was born, to India, his parents’ homeland. Along this trajectory—a return that feels like a discovery—Lathigra experiences an existential condition suspended between “now” and “then”, between identity and heritage, one shared by millions of second-generation immigrants around the world. In markets, amid crowds and merchandise, among sacred cows and bare-chested wrestlers, breakdancers and pomegranate sellers, the photographer gathers fragments of the idea of India he carries within him while simultaneously exploring, with fresh eyes, a country to which he is bound by a complex and unbreakable relationship. Is his fascination with India a longing for something he has never truly experienced, or a sense of belonging inscribed in his blood and skin? Intimate, visceral, seductive, dusty, warm and colourful, the Indian metropolis reveals itself generously, with all its contradictions, before his lens, while always retaining part of its mystery: in the deep shadows, the rustling palm leaves, the swish of gold-edged saris, and the horizon stretching out before Bombay, where the line between sky and sea grows uncertain and blurred amid the smog, the haze and eyes veiled in melancholy.