Works from the Goa Open Arts Catalyst Grants 2020
February 10 - March 7, 2021
Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and the once upon a time comes to stand for some renascent truth... Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.
– Mary Catherine Bateson
Six artists who live and work in Goa retell and reinterpret experiences rooted in mythology, folklore, folk art, nature, and a post-truth world. Afrah Shafiq, Asavari Gurav, Bhisaji Gadekar, Komas, Nandita Kumar and Poonam Pandit come together in a multi-media exhibition of artwork inspired by each artist’s unique experience and interpretation of their life in Goa. The exhibiting artists are grantees of the Goa Open Arts Catalyst Grant 2020 that was instituted at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic with the intention of providing ongoing support to the artistic community of Goa.
Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai supported the media arts grant and the show is partnered and hosted by Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts.
The exhibition will be on at:
Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts
Altinho, Panjim, Goa
February 10 to March 7, 2021
10 am to 6:30 pm, Monday to Saturday
The artists
Afrah Shafiq
Multimedia artist and filmmaker Afrah, creates an installation using sound, electronic prototyping and folk imagery to look at the syncretic nature of goddess worship across Hindu and Catholic traditions in Goa.
Komas
KOMAS' audio-installation is inspired by the the precarious environmental situation that threatens Mollem Forest and its endangered habitat. Remixing field recordings they create a unique soundscape.
Asavari Gurav
Drawing from Goan folk tales, theatre and her own poems, Asavari's paintings, drawings and books are infused with imagery and characters that create a fantastic narrative on Goan culture and socio-political conditions.
Nandita Kumar
Nandita's multimedia installation deconstructs political statements related to varied issues from gathered data to create ‘a chance score’, through the interplay between language and the construction of meaning.
Bhisaji Gadekar
Gadekar has worked with local bamboo craftsmen to create a series of intricately woven sculptural dresses that reflect on his family’s tailoring profession, as well as his own questions about ideas of ‘dress’.
Poonam Pandit
Textile artist and weaver, Poonam creates a series of tactile woven compositions that draw upon the narrative of fibre, from the natural old world, into the modern synthetic, ecologic and technologic future world.
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