19
Sep 2024
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Uncovering Urban Legacies: Stories of Bombay's Precincts - Mazagon
Coomaraswamy Hall, CSMVS, Mumbai - 400001
Philosopher and Photographer, Pierre Poulain uses the lens of his camera as a path to practice philosophy and art. A self-taught photographer and founder and director of the Israel chapter of New Acropolis, a school of philosophy in the classical manner, for nearly 30 years, Poulain believes that a true artist opens pathways to the archetype of Beauty that transcend the physical plane. Join him for the launch of his new book, "Metaphysical Aesthetics of Photography" (published by New Acropolis Cultural Organization in India), followed by a conversation with Award-winning Photographer Amit Madheshiya, as they stretch our fields of vision to reveal how photography can be a means to make the invisible visible.
Pierre Poulain started his journey of experimenting with the camera in 1976, driving a taxi in Paris by night to support his passion for photography during the day. His journey steered him from the pillar of photography, to the post of philosophy. Several years later, Pierre’s exploration continues, on the path to understanding philosophy through the lens of his camera. Pierre uses the technical nuances of photography to capture the decisive moments of Life. He muses, “There is an infinite number of ‘decisive moments’ to capture, but we do not see them because we are not receptive enough. They remain in the invisible unconsciousness of our minds, and we have to move them to our visible consciousness.” For him, his camera, and the myriad of technical aspects of photography, are tools to allow him to work with his intuition to see the invisible and express it in sensible form. He observes, “a photograph is a door, an open passage from the intelligible to the sensible, from the invisible to the visible, and looking at its inner nature is looking into a mirror: it can help us discover ourselves; it can help us get to know ourselves.” Inspired by the classical schools of world philosophy, Pierre connects to the world of archetypes and endeavours to bring it to the temporal world. Pierre has taught and practiced philosophy and photography for more than 25 years. To him they are not separate paths, but different expressions of the same search for wisdom, which expresses itself as Beauty and Aesthetics. Pierre heads the Israel chapter of New Acropolis – a school of philosophy in the classical manner.
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About Amit Madheshiya: Amit is a graduate in English Literature from Hindu College, New Delhi, India. He works as an independent photographer based in Mumbai. For his work on the traveling tent cinemas of India he has received Arts Research Grant from India Foundation for the Arts (2008), a fellowship from the Cluster of Excellence at Heidelberg University (2009) and the Goethe-Institute 50 Year Anniversary Grant (2010). This work won the World Press Photo (2011), Sony World Photography Award (2011 and 2009), and the Humanity Photo Awards ( 2009). Amit’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions worldwide.
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