Kolkata: A special exhibition celebrating the Bengali culture and the annual Durga Puja festivities has inaugurated at National Theatre, Riverside Walkway, London as part of 'Totally Thames Festival' 2018.
Bengal's Durga Puja is an exhibition which provides a rare insight into the outpouring creativity, artistic innovation and cultural celebration of Bengal's traditions. The 16 exhibition panels, with photographs by Manjit Singh Hoonjan, have been curated by Ali Pretty of Kinetika and Kamalika Bose. The panels will be on display till September 30.
A delegation from the state government consisting of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, minister of state for Youth Affairs and Atri Bhattacharya, state Home Secretary and Principal Secretary, Tourism. The delegation is in the UK till 9 September.
This visit is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the British Council and the state government on 6 July this year.
The exhibition has been put together by the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal in collaboration with the British Council, as a part of its 70-year anniversary celebrations in India.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla said: "Durga Puja is a celebration of cultural identity that goes beyond religion. Millions of people come together through tradition, art, performances, music and food. Coincidentally, Durga Puja in its present form traces its origin to interactions with the British in the late 18th century. We are delighted to present this exhibition at Totally Thames 2018 and hope it will showcase West Bengal as a destination for experiential tourism. We also seek to establish collaborations between artists from across the world with the artists of West Bengal."
Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director East and Northeast India, British Council, said: "This exhibition is a legacy programme arising out of the Silk River project by Kinetika, which was one of the flagship programmes of UK-India Year of Culture in 2017. British Council India has been inspired every day of the last 70 years by the art and culture of West Bengal. I hope this exhibition, which showcases the creativity and culture of Bengal's river communities, will inspire young people from both India and the UK to build enduring connections through education, arts and culture for the next 70 years."