A mirror with red Hindu and Buddhist symbols and the words "I LOVE YOU" on it, reflecting two smiling people taking a selfie. The background is a green wall.

I N D I A 2008

Over two months in the Himalayan foothills, Mourning created portraits embodying her uncle's spiritual quest as a monk. The series explores both familial connections and broader cultural memory within the ashram where her uncle's Transcendental Meditation practice began—the hallowed ground where, decades earlier, the Beatles composed the White Album. Through these dual narratives of familial pilgrimage and musical mythology, Mourning examines how sacred spaces become vessels for both personal transformation and cultural legacy. All the while questioning notions of American cultural appropriation and this need to escape one’s own place of origin to find ones’ Self.

A young woman climbing a ladder on top of a dome-shaped structure with a cracked surface, set against a backdrop of mountains and trees.
A person sitting cross-legged on the floor with a veil over their face, in a plain room with a textured wall.
A woman in traditional white clothing crouching on a rocky surface against a plain bright red background.
A woman dressed in traditional Indian attire, wearing a pink saree with a pink veil, sitting outdoors among plants, with a planter of red flowers behind her.
An elderly man with gray hair and a mustache squats next to a circular garden bed with overgrown plants and red flowers, wearing a beige shirt and light-colored pants.
A woman in traditional Indian attire and a man dressed as a Hindu sage sit cross-legged on a wooden floor in front of a wooden wall with religious decorations and a large painting of Lord Krishna playing a flute, surrounded by a tree and a statue of
A boy standing on a large rock in a mountainous landscape with dry grass, leafless bushes, and a stone wall, while reaching up towards a blue ice chunk hanging from a tree branch.
Person standing in front of a colorful wall display with paper craft cupcakes.
A framed portrait of a woman with long hair, wearing a headpiece, and smiling, with a reflection of a window pattern on the glass.