In Tamil Nadu, in southern India, the oldest traditions have remained intact more than anywhere else. The powerful presences of spirits and living gods are embodied in masks, in bodies surrendering at the moment of ritual and in animal remains during sacrifices. Figures emerge, real and divine, natural and supernatural, of whom one can no longer tell whether they are men, gods or spirits; men and women in trance sink into darkness in full light, and individual psychology gives way to a great common body vibrating in unison. For fifteen years Yannick Cormier followed festivals and rituals, turning his back on the polished world of orthodox Hinduism. His work blends frontal portraits, snapshots and staged scenes, aiming to suggest rather than describe, closer to imagination than to documentary: a brutal and poetic vision that unearths the strange lurking behind the ordinary, born of a deep immersion in the culture, theatre and mythological soul of the Tamil people.