A statement by Kalwant Ajimal, FRSA -
Festival Director and Founder

Purpose and Vision

Ephemeral arts are the arts that are temporary or short-lived, based on a specific occasion or event and transitory in nature.

The Festival is aimed at celebrating the unity of artistic expression across different cultures. It does so by demonstrating the common response by communities to regular events such as birth, change of seasons, marriage, New Year celebrations and even death.

In designing the Festival and its developing its related activities, I have been interested in isolating the displays of visual arts from their religious or cultural roots where appropriate. I have then tried to demonstrate the commonality of human response to events that are based on universally shared phenomena such as the movements of the sun especially the equinoxes, changes in seasons and the celebration of stages of life.

I have found the search for commonality even more interesting and absorbing when the resources that are used to celebrate major events are examined in detail. Many societies use masks, colours and flowers and plants in different ways to celebrate these time based and transitory events, which lead to the creation of ephemeral arts.

I have also been fascinated with the importance of the equinoxes and their impact on harvests, which in turn generally mark the start of New Year celebrations in many cultures. A good harvest stimulates celebration and when there is food and money in plenty people express their creativity through their ephemeral arts. Other artforms such as music and dance also become predominant in making offerings to the Gods or various deities and for thanksgiving in general.