Mogappu is an amalgam of two Tamil words — mugam meaning “face” and amaippu meaning “the look”. Together, the words literally mean “the arrangement of the face”.
For Amar Ramesh, the “mogappu” is more than the foyer of the traditional mansion in Tami Nadu’s Chettinad region; to him, it symbolises the architectural grandeur of this area.
The book, titled Mogappu, is a pictorial ode to the aesthetic portals of these palatial homes of Chettinad, portrayed through the 108 images Ramesh has shot over a decade.
A majority of these bungalows sport statues of Hindu deities like the Gajalakshmi, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva and Parvati (symbolising a happy married life).
Some mogappus had statues of British royalty and soldiers, whilst there are mogappus depicting Indian freedom fighters showing the associations of house owners.
Although a majority of the mogappu have muted colours, a typical Chettinad home also features vibrant colours such as turquoise, yellow, indigo, green, maroon and red.
In future, Ramesh wants to document the history of Tamil Nadu, especially of Chola temples, and other lesser-known and still significant places and art forms from India.
“The main reason I want to restrict my work to Tamil Nadu is because this one state itself has so much to cover. Tamil Nadu itself will take me seven lives.”