Latest news with #Fraternité
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
A medley of bold strokes and bright colours at art expo
A medley of bold brush strokes, bright colours and angular shapes, often reminiscent of the expressionist style, define the art of Alain Gambier, who goes by the moniker A* Gaambal. An expo — 'Glut 0.2 Fraternité, où es-tu?' (Brotherhood, Where are You?) — showcases a selection of the French artist's works at the Alliance Francaise. Though he sometimes resorts to figurative art, his preferred style is abstract. The artist believes that an abstract work of art has the capacity to trigger unbounded interpretations in the viewers. And, in life as in art, he has this uncanny ability to shift from artivist to a free spirit always looking to spread fun and laughter. Not surprising for someone who takes his life code from the Charlie Chaplin maxim 'A day without laughter is a day wasted,' finding and spreading joy and happiness is central to his artistic pursuits. A spinoff of this has been a fun video series titled 'Glut' that evolved 'as a family play with art and words'. A Glut logo was designed by his artist-nephew Koumar David as a sort of signature to mark out his body of artworks. It wasn't long before a Glut YouTube channel was launched to present some of his work in a comical-absurdist mode, where 'the artwok itself is a character'. A. Gaamblar is quite in his elements when he forays into the realm of the absurd as he does in some of these art-based video segments. In one such segment, the artist pretend-pushes on a painting of vertical piano keys to the background score of 'O Fortuna', a medieval poem from the 13th century Carmina Burana collection that was set to music by German composer Carl Orff. For him, in this ongoing mad world, absurd is what can re-open the field of possibilities. The absurd and art combined make the frontiers between living beings vanish and lead to the surge of shared happiness, he feels. The artist is also popular for establishing the Glutotel Homestay, a boutique eco-living space near Auroville, featuring unique 'Glut' rooms with teak woodwork and lit up by art works. One of his works has also been used as illustration for a new French work of fiction, 'Les Etats D'âme Du Caméléon' of his spouse, Yamouna David, past practicising lawyer at the Paris Bar and daughter of former Madras High Court Judge and author David Annoussamy. In order to raise the fun quotient and make the expo more participatory, the artist, along with the hosts, have organised a fun contest where a reward awaits visitors who come up with the fancy titles for the contemporary art works. The best title tip will get a prize at the valedictory of the expo on August 6.
LeMonde
19-06-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Tolerance holding up in France despite hate speech, report on racism finds
'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité' by the American artist Shepard Fairey (known as Obey), Rue Nationale, Paris. HENRI GARAT/MAIRIE DE PARIS "Tolerance is resisting." It is resisting against the "discourses of mistrust and hate speech" targeting minorities that are spread in certain political and media spheres. It is holding firm in a political climate that often "places blame on immigrants for society's problems." And it is withstanding the "waning commitment" from public authorities to the fight against all forms of racism and discrimination, according to the annual report of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) on combating racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, published Wednesday, June 18. Acceptance of people who are different by their origin, skin color or religion grew in 2024, the report finds, though prejudices have not disappeared. Stereotypes are deeply rooted, especially for those over the age of 60. The main tool for measuring the decline of intolerance is the longitudinal tolerance index (ILT), which combines responses to 75 questions regularly asked in face-to-face interviews since 1990, from a sample of 1,210 people representative of the adult population living in mainland France. Almost a third of the respondents have at least one parent or grandparent born abroad. The index ranges from 0 to 100. In 2023, in the specific context following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, the ILT dropped by three points in one year, from 65 to 62. This year, it rose by one point, confirming an overall upward trend over the past 35 years: The ILT has gone from a low of 46 in 1991 to a high of 65 in 2022. You have 76.88% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
