Kumar de Silva remembers that Christmas Eve in Paris – a bleak wintry evening when tired out he slipped into the great cathedral.Sitting there, he was lulled by the sights, scents and sounds that enveloped him: the smell of burning candlewax, the sonorous Latin chant of the priests, the soft murmur of prayer in the [...]

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Notre- Dame: In search of its soul

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Kumar de Silva remembers that Christmas Eve in Paris – a bleak wintry evening when tired out he slipped into the great cathedral.Sitting there, he was lulled by the sights, scents and sounds that enveloped him: the smell of burning candlewax, the sonorous Latin chant of the priests, the soft murmur of prayer in the background. He sat there for well nigh an hour, lost in the serene splendour of the Notre Dame.

Many years earlier, another incident: While on the popular French TV show Bonsoir, he and fellow host Yasmin Rajapakse were filming a programme on Victor Hugo’s classic ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. It was 1999 and a new musical adaptation had taken Paris by storm, coincidentally with a Sri Lankan dancer Isira Makuloluwa in the cast. When Isira visited Colombo, Bonsoir decided it merited a special programme and so there they were at the Bishop’ s College auditorium, Yasmin as Esmerelda, the gypsy girl in her swirling skirts and clicking castanets, Kumar as Quasimodo, the Hunchback, made up to look the part right down to the misshapen spine with a cushion strapped to his spine. The shooting had to be wrapped up before the school bell rang to signal the end of the day. Kumar looking for a toilet, approached a man sweeping backstage to ask where he could find one, only to see him scream and run away. Kumar had forgotten that he was still dressed as the Hunchback mode, make up and all.

There are many associations in his mind with the Notre Dame, Kumar says and so it comes as no surprise that the fourth exhibition in his Nostalgie series, which began with the first two offering scenes of France and then the Eiffel Tower is this time dedicated to this Parisian landmark. Mind you, the cathedral’s architecture, magnificent as it is, is not his focus. What he has sought to capture is its soul, not the stones and spires, but the life that swirls and eddies around it, the people who come to pray, to marvel, to pose before it, the bird women with their hat brims scattered with grain, everything that makes a visit to the Notre Dame so memorable.

Kumar goes to Paris ‘his favourite city’ every two years and loves nothing more than to just loaf around on foot, walking the streets, drinking in the sights. And nowadays he shoots and shoots and shoots. There is a faint sense of regret that he is no longer just the tourist content to meander but now sees that which is around him with a keen awareness of what would transpose into the kind of picture that tells a story. “I want to show you what my eye sees,” he says earnestly. The pictures are in black and white, raw images capturing too the shades of grey, muted and grainy. He doesn’t see the need for sophisticated cameras and state of the art lenses- he’s more than content to use his old camera, (a Canon sx210 IS) around 10 years old, that has travelled with him everywhere and taken more than a few knocks and simply wait for the moment, the angle and the light. Going back to primitive photography in a sense, he feels.

It’s the layers that fascinate him, he says, explaining one shot which has four – the booksellers in the foreground, the people passing by, the second, the River Seine next and in the background, the looming presence of the Cathedral.

He says too that the sacred place has touched something deep within him- his Anglican Christian background. Though he became a Buddhist long years ago, the past is not easily erased. Focusing on the Notre Dame brought back happy memories of childhood for him.
A word about the Notre Dame: Construction began in 1163 and went on for almost 200 years to build this cathedral, considered a masterpiece of early Gothic style. The Notre Dame stands on the Ile de la Cite, a small island in the heart of Paris and has survived through the reign of Kings and emperors, through revolutions and world wars. Kumar knows its history, the saints and the gargoyles, and has a strong conviction that he will return to this subject one day,

‘Nostalgie 04-Notre- Dame de Paris’ Kumar de Silva’s exhibition of black and white photographs is on today ( July 13) at the Lionel Wendt gallery from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will continue from Monday, July 14 to Sunday, July 20 at the Alliance de Francaise de Kotte, 11, Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 5.

All proceeds will go to the fund to meet the medical expenses of photographer Rukshan Abeywansha who is recovering from a spinal surgery.

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