“Image is to India what Words are to the West: the best means to express the fundamental values of society”

Corinne Bloch

India Beyond Words would like to make you discover India through the eyes of its children. This cultural project is born from the common desire of the Belgian artist Marie-Lou Perée, commonplaces asbl, a non-profit organization from Brussels, and the Indian Foundation F.O.A.R.S. Mixing their knowledge and enthusiasm, they got the idea of developing photography workshops in three rural schools near about Bangaluru. Lead by the photographer, young Indians of different age will have the opportunity of sharing their daily live. The artist would like the children to communicate beyond words, with Image.

Back from India, the pictures taken by the children and the photographer herself will then be exhibited in Brussels. A conference on the theme of the role and the sense of image in India will go along with this exhibition organized by commonplaces asbl. At the same time, projections will be organized in the schools concerned in Bangalore.

This project is an excellent opportunity to give tomorrow’s adults the possibility of using their freedom of expression, the foundation of any real democracy. Mixing the fields of Art and Education, it will also allow confronting our western vision of the world with the Indian one, thus contributing to a more open society.

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Brief presentation of the project stakeholders

Marie-Lou Perée is a Belgian artist graduated from the Brussels Fine-Arts Academy. Hers is an art of sharing. She makes the spectator travel through her sharp insight on society. As an amateur anthropologist, she regularly travels to India and executes a radiography of its society through her camera. That’s how she realizes the intimate relationship of Indians with Image and makes the most of its narrative power.

commonplaces asbl is a non-profit organization based on promotion of artists in Belgium and abroad. Stem from the collaboration of two passionate art historians, Shirley Chantraine and François Harray, this association organizes exhibits and helps artists conceptualize and present their work.

F.O.A.R.S. (Foundation of Anjali Robert Shetty) was created by the Indian artist, Purni Shetty, her husband Yvon Robert and her sister Pratibha Shetty, after the tragic death of their fifteen-year-old daughter. This foundation located in India, perpetuates Anjalis constant concern of helping the needy. The Foundation supports various charities giving its support to elderly or ill people, to prisoners and to rural schools.

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Photographs : Marie-Lou Perée

Video: VSD / Music : Ami Dang - Treasure

India Beyond Words

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