Visitors to Rome for Teresa sainthood to get taste of Kolkata

Using the power of images, music and verbal discussions, internationally acclaimed photographer Kounteya Sinha and his team of volunteers will hold exhibits at 11 places in Rome and the Vatican City, as part of their two week-long civilian movement called ‘The Sainthood Project’. 

“The Mother used to work in slums of Kolkata. If she could, then why can’t we walk around potholes and slum areas where there is gutter? We want people from all over the world to come and see Kolkata where the Mother worked all her life,” Sinha told PTI. 

The Kolkata-born ace lensman, who has lived in London for many years, said hardly one per cent of those who will be coming to see the canonisation ceremony know about Kolkata where the Roman Catholic nun spent 45 years serving the poor and sick on the streets. He plans to present a collection of 50 shots of the city by hanging it using clips on a rope and display it in roadsides where volunteers will hold the two ends of the rope. 

“The idea is also to break all stereotypes about the city. So we are not keeping the Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge or the British architectural beauty of the city,” he said. 

They are promoting small localities like Kumartoli, where potters make clay idols of Goddesses Durga and Kali, the flower market, Sonagachi (Asia’s largest red-light area), the numerous lanes and slums of the city in which Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity worked. 

During the open-air roadside exhibition, young lawyer Amlan Guha, also an amateur musician, will play 15 new tracks on the streets of Rome to glorify Kolkata.

Surasree Seal, a young photographer from Government Art College here, will document the whole journey. 

“We want the world to come to Kolkata and see it, feel its pulse, embrace its warmth, communicate with its ever so charming people, eat its finger licking food, walk through its clean and dirty streets, sit and have a meal with those who live in the slums and above all walk the same roads that Mother Teresa once did,” the young team said. 

They all describe themselves as ambassadors of Kolkata and will talk about the city which they are passionate about during their exhibits.

The entire project of the team ‘The Nobody’s’, as they call themselves, is being funded by raising money from public donations for their travel and stay in Rome.