Photographer Documents Kurumba Indigenous Stories in Nilgiri Forest

Gayatri Ganju, a photographer based in Bengaluru, India, has been working since 2016 on an ongoing series titled 'The Pregnant Tree' in the Nilgiri forest of Tamil Nadu. She collaborates with the Kurumba Indigenous community, guided by local men Murthy and Subbu, to document their oral traditions through photography. Ganju conducts listening sessions where community members share stories about the sacred forest, though she was permitted to publicly share only one narrative—a creation myth about how birds saved seeds from a giant to grow the forests. Her work highlights the region's ecological significance as a UNESCO-recognized biodiversity hotspot that has lost 80% of its grasslands over two centuries. The project is supported by Magnum Foundation and Musée du Quai Branly.