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Indian light artistes to illuminate UK festival
Two Indian light artistes will participate in an international festival of lights organised by the city of Durham, northeast England, in November.
Two Indian light artistes will participate in an international festival of lights organised by the city of Durham, northeast England, in November.
The festival, names Enlightenment, will feature four ambitious installations, two of them by the Indian artistes Sanchayan Ghosh and Nandita Palchoudhury. British artistes will create the other two artworks.
One project, Light of Darkness by Sanchayan Ghosh, consists of two huge shining eyes, each made of miners' helmets from the sub-continent, to be placed beneath Durham's historic Framwellgate Bridge.
The artwork, reported to have been inspired by Durham's historic past, the Venerable Bede and the third (or inner) eye of eastern enlightenment, will soon be transported to the region for display during the festival.
The second work from India, Calcutta Lights by Nandita Palchoudhuri, will be made partly of bamboo recycled from the Bambuco bridge which temporarily spanned the Tyne in the summer.
Calcutta Lights will consist of two lit arches across Elvet Bridge. They will be decorated with intricate interpretations of the Durham Sanctuary Knocker and the Rose Window Durham Cathedral treasures fashioned from thousands of tiny bulbs.
Newcastle-based arts production group Isis Arts, which in turn was commissioned by Durham City Arts and Durham City Vision, a partnership working to raise the profile of the city, has commissioned all the artists in the project.
Clymene Christoforou, co-director of Isis Arts, said: "What find most exciting is that in a corner of India, the history of Durham is being analysed, interpreted and brought to life through art."
