On Thursday, September 3rd, the Aicon Gallery will become the place to be. That’s when the cinematic genius of Mira Nair and the artistic eye of Prabuddha Dasgupta come together for a magical evening of conversation and photography — with a bit of history about the vacation paradise of Goa, India — to introduce the release of Dasgupta’s book ‘Edge of Faith’ published by Seagull Books. The event is presented by one of my favorite institutions, the Indo-American Arts Council. 

With an incredibly poignant and historic background, Goa is far more than the holiday sanctuary of the hip and young looking for a thrill on its vast beaches. It is a land that has seen more than its share of struggles and change.

To quote the synopsis of the book “Located on the west coast of India along the Arabian Sea, Goa officially became an Indian state in 1987 after nearly 500 years of Portuguese rule. This conflict of cultures is captured by Indian photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta in The Edge of Faith. The book’s 70 striking photographs create an intimate portrait of the Catholic community in Goa rarely seen before—a portrait of people torn between their fidelity to a history of Portuguese faith and culture and their post-Independence Indian identity. In addition, acclaimed writer William Dalrymple provides an accompanying text that explores both the history of Goa’s Catholic past and its struggle to deal with its multi-cultural, multi-religious present. The Edge of Faith captures Catholic Goa in a haunting, but beautiful impasse—caught in a time warp between comforting nostalgia and a doubt-ridden, insecure future.” 

Prabuddha Dasgupta is a multitalented photographer who is equally at home photographing beautiful models for Vogue and Elle India — or in his campaigns for Hermes and Louis Vuitton — as he is capturing a still life or a landscape of beautiful India. In ‘Edge of Faith’ he creates a bridge for the rest of the world to view both the beauty and history of Goa and understand its legacy in the process.

As for Mira Nair, well it’s no mystery how much I admire her work and have been quite vocal about how I believe her first film ‘Salaam Bombay’ to be the original ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, but with feelings and truth in place of the in-your-face hyper reality of SM. As all Iconoclasts are typically well ahead of the rest of the world in their vision, Ms. Nair’s only mistake with her masterpiece was its timing, way ahead of a moment when the whole world would be ready to receive it for the great gift it is. But she has of course become a household name with films such as ‘Vanity Fair’, ‘The Namesake’ and the upcoming, highly anticipated ‘Amelia’, with Hilary Swank. If you haven’t watched all of Nair’s work, what are you waiting for? Type in her name on Netflix and watch wonderful gems like ‘Monsoon Wedding’ and ‘Mississippi Masala’ appear magically in your queue…

‘Edge of Faith’ will be officially released on September the 15th and will be available through Barnes & Noble, among others.

Aicon Gallery is located at 35 Great Jones Street, between Bowery and Broadway — easily accessible by taking the 6 train to Bleecker and walking two blocks north — in NYC and the event is scheduled between 7 and 9 p.m. on Thursday, September 3rd. See you there!!

All Prabuddha Dasgupta images courtesy of the artist - ©2009 Prabuddha Dasgupta

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under The List.