Aangan (The Courtyard) VII

Hand-signed Mixed Media Hand Embellished Unique Artwork by Raphael Mazzucco.

Inspired by the architecture, energy and contrasts of Rajasthan, internationally acclaimed artist and photographer Raphael Mazzucco’s 2026 body of work draws from a month-long journey through New Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner.

Travelling with photographer and videographer Albi Jakici and model Sophia Petricenko, Mazzucco moved instinctively through Rajasthan's ancient cities — surrendering to the rhythm of colour that doesn't ask permission, beauty of ornamental Rajput architecture and city walls that have absorbed decades of heat and touch.

‘Aangan (The Courtyard)’ opens the composition outward, yet holds the viewer within a contained, almost ceremonial space. Seen from above, the geometry of the courtyard becomes sculptural — the figure positioned at its centre, her form and fabric expanding into a near-symmetrical, butterfly-like shape within the square. The worn surface beneath her, marked by time and erosion, carries as much presence as the figure itself, grounding the image in a quiet sense of history. There is a stillness here that feels reverential, as though the space holds memory as much as it holds form.

“I saw the courtyard first and immediately understood the overhead perspective was essential. Once she entered the space, the composition became almost sculptural. The fabric completed the symmetry naturally.”

Antara — Sanskrit for the space between — captures something beyond documentation. These works exist in the charged distance between memory and presence, between stillness and chaos, between the photograph and what it cannot hold. More than twenty-five years after his first encounter with India, Mazzucco returned not to rediscover a place, but to step back into a feeling — one found in surfaces shaped by time, where buildings absorb the rhythm of daily life and colour settles, fades, and intensifies into something lived rather than designed. Across each work, the figure is not imposed onto the environment, but absorbed into it — emerging from arches, courtyards and doorways as though shaped by the same forces of time, light and human presence. These are not images of place, but of atmosphere: moments that exist, like Antara itself, in the space between.

“In Northern India, I'm not stepping into a blank space. I'm entering a place that already has its own rhythm, its own visual language. The buildings aren't just structures. They absorb everything around them—dust, heat, time, human presence—and the colour settles into that history. It fades, it peels, it intensifies in places you wouldn't expect. That's what I'm drawn to. I'm not looking at architecture as something clean or designed. I'm looking at what it becomes after life moves through it.” – Raphael Mazzucco

Find out more about Antara 2026 or alternatively shop more of Mazzucco's art.

Production & Delivery

All our artwork is made to order in Birmingham, UK, ensuring top quality. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery. Each piece is carefully crafted to meet our high standards.

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Returns

We offer a 14-day cooling-off period so you can view the artwork in your home. If it's not right for you, we’ll collect it free of charge or you can return it to one of our galleries.

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