‘Story of a Pause’ goes to Portugal

After a successful photo exhibition in October 2018, photographer Harsh Kamat has now been invited to showcase his photographs at the VII Biennial of Lusophone Cultures in Portugal this May. NT BUZZ reports

NT BUZZ

The Town Hall of Odivelas, a city located near the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, is currently preparing to hold the VII Biennial of Lusophone Cultures, which will start on May 2, 2019. This Biennial is an event where, through visual arts, literature, music, theatre, dance and gastronomy, the Portuguese language and the culture of the Portuguese speaking nations is celebrated alongside the culture of countries where the Portuguese language has historically played a relevant role. In this way, Odivelas will be a true centre of unification of the culture of all these participant countries and their communities.

As part of this event, photographer, Harsh Kamat has been invited to present an individual exhibition of his photographs, which will take place at the Centro de Exposições de Odivelas – Sala António Lino between May 2 and May 30 2019.

This is the first time that an artist from Goa or indeed from India has been invited for the event. It is also the first time that a photographer has been invited.

“When I had come back from Portugal after completing my studies, I had made up my mind to go back there someday, as I got the feeling of second home there,” says Harsh, who will be taking his mother along too.

In October 2018, Harsh had presented his works at the exhibition, ‘Story of a Pause’. This time he has handpicked 27 photographs from his collection to tell its story from India. “A pause slows down time and magnifies the heart-breaking beauty of the world. In doing so, it becomes a story which demands to be told,” he says. “I have tried to showcase pictures not just from Goa, but Lucknow, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and other places including rural areas of the country.”

The VII Biennial of Lusophone Cultures is a collective exhibition of plastic arts, bringing together the best productions in artistic terms at the level of painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation. The opening of the Biennial of Lusophone Cultures will take place on May 2, 2019, with a solemn session at the Exhibition Centre of Odivelas.

The Biennial will include the Lusophone Writers’ Meeting, a privileged moment to continue the work of preservation and promotion of literature in Portuguese and the Book Fair of Lusophone Authors where several works by writers and publishers promoting Portuguese language can be found. There will also be the Lusophone Forum which addresses the main political, economic and social issues in the life of the Portuguese speaking countries, while, the Multicultural Fair covers various communities existing in the Municipality of Odivelas, through gastronomy, dance, music, traditional songs and crafts. The Multicultural Fashion Show brings together representative examples of the fashion of each participating country while the Cinema Cycle features the projection of films that depict the reality of the countries represented at the Biennial.