Intimate black and whites of Goa's Catholic community find place in Prabuddha Dasgupta's latest book, and at an exhibition that he's chosen to hold in an abandoned Byculla warehouse
Intimate black and whites of Goa's Catholic community find place in Prabuddha Dasgupta's latest book, and at an exhibition that he's chosen to hold in an abandoned Byculla warehouse
For decades now, the cheers have rung out into the night. For Fernando Couto, Abel Xavier and the infamous Beto. For the stars, past and present, of Portuguese football. They have rung out, strangely, from Aldona to Parra, Tivim to Navelimu00a0-- little villages across idyllic Goa.u00a0
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Prabuddha Dasguptau00a0-- self-taught photographer, author, resident of Goa since 2005u00a0-- has spent a lot of time looking. In Edge of Faith, a new collection of photographs, he brings out his light meter to give us a glimpse of the state's Catholic community, torn between nostalgia for the past and a relatively new Indian identity.
But why focus on one community alone? "It was more out of curiosity about a people that did not seem to be culturally, spiritually or even physically close to what I recognised as Indian," Dasgupta replies. "The homes I visited, the families I met, all seemed more Southern European in appearance and character. I recognised it was 500 years of Catholic history and conditioning that made them unique."u00a0
A look at Prabuddha Dasgupta's book, Edge of Faith
Adding context to the photographs is a history, by travel writer William Dalrymple, of Goa's Catholic past and multi-religious present. To be honest, some of Dasgupta's Goa isn't as "rarely seen" as they say it is. It is accessible to anyone who decides to stop by the route to a popular beach, and take a detour down a narrow village lane instead. But what the photographs do manage very well, inadvertently, is capture facets of a culture steadily eroding as real estate sharks swoop in to stake their claim.
We ask Dasgupta how, in his opinion, the Goan community rates the Indian government. "It is not my place to discuss their political allegiance, as my experience is limited," he admits. "What I did see was that among the older generation, there is a nostalgic longing for, and a closer affinity to the Portuguese, than there is among the younger generation. It has been difficult for the Goans, to be divorced from the mainstream of Indian history for 450 years and suddenly have to embrace India."
Working on a project like this did, obviously, change the way Dasgupta looked at his adopted home. "Earlier it was more of a place to take off your clothes and run into the ocean!" he says. "What is a little disturbing is, in the wake of recent indiscriminate development by builders and the subsequent ravaging of the land, there seems to be a build up of extreme right-wing sentiments among the younger intelligentsia, targeting non-Goans. This is not a pleasant situation."
For those not inclined to purchasing the book, Dasgupta's work will be on display at a month-long exhibition starting November 27. Interestingly, it is being held in an abandoned, roofless warehouse in Byculla, instead of what the photographer calls the "sterile, antiseptic environs of art galleries."
Stop by for images of Goa that don't make it to the travel brochures.
The exhibition opens at Tasveer, 561/563, NM Joshi Marg, Byculla (W), on November 27. Call: 65777560
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