holi face (limited edition print) · Montreal / Canada · 2016

Festivals are cultural routines, reoccurring rites that often follow long traces of ancestral mysticism. Built on ephemerality, they aren’t supposed to last. Coming alive in a collective moment and dying with each individual going home, their existence is humble. Once the paint flakes off of a Holi face, it’s “so long, see you around next year.” The festive occasion derives meaningfulness and joy from being cyclic, not static; its short and intense presence must juxtapose a long absence to be cherished by the devotees. Even in our memories, the recollection of a single event might get watered down in a blurry puddle of many a year. There is no clinging on to these celebrations and that’s why they are truly moments of being in the moment.
 
 
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tags: Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North America, portrait, woman, face, hair, colors, festival, festivity, celebration, eye, living room, horizontal