ANGUS GUITE CAN’T pinpoint the exact moment but he’s certain it was either over dinner or while watching his grandmother cook that he first heard the mythological tale of a woman famed far and wide for her beauty, especially her long, lustrous hair. “I remember being so taken with her when I first heard the story as a kid,” recalls the New Delhi-based photographer who grew up in Lamka, a small town in the Zo highlands of Manipur. “My grandmother described how when this woman would wash her hair in the river, men would try to catch a glimpse of her, and how the woman would collect mountain flowers in a bamboo basket.”
The folk tale of Rimenhawihi, a Mizo Rapunzel of sorts, stayed with Guite all these years, filed away in the corridors of nostalgia alongside other stories from his childhood, many of them biblical. This memory resurfaced earlier this year when he was asked to shoot Mizoram-based label Lapâr’s spring/summer collection titled Eden Huan (Eden Garden) inspired by Rimenhawihi’s legend.
The brand’s raison d’être is to bring the puan, the traditional dress of Mizoram that’s worn as a wrap-around skirt, into contemporary consciousness without losing its cultural essence. “I was raised by my grandmother, mother and aunt—women were so strong in my family—and I associate the puan with them,” says Guite. “My mother would carry me in it and put me to sleep in it. My work revolves around the exploration of memories and nostalgia. It’s autobiographical in a sense, and it’s when I collaborate with people who share similar cultural histories as mine that I can really tell these stories.”
Whether it’s working with those who resonate with your origin story, or creating a community of supportive artists in a country with a questionable track record on inclusion, creatives from India’s North East are discovering the power of working together and forging partnerships to tell stories that are uniquely their own.
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