Historically speaking

NT BUZZ

Artist Subodh Kerkar offered his audience ‘Glimpses of Goa’s Histories’ in a recent talk held at Kala Academy, Panaji.

Kerkar’s lecture, which was held to mark the launch of academic Kunal Ray’s book, ‘Goa: Subodh Kerkar’s Canvas’, drew from historical facts and anecdotal evidence that Kerkar came across in his research on
Goa’s history.

Contrary to popular belief, Goa, Kerkar said, was connected with the world as a spice trade hub, even before the advent of the Portuguese colonisers. This is because the spice trade was earlier controlled by the Arabs previously.

In fact, Kerkar said, in the 1560s, the Old Goa port traded a range of commodities, from horses to spices to even slaves.

Kerkar also offered insights into how his artistic journey intersects with Goa’s maritime legacy through the use of discarded fishing canoes in his sculptures.

“One of the functions of art is basically to stir memory,” Kerkar said. “I celebrated the navigational connection between the Arabian countries and India with an exhibit involving discarded wooden fishing boats which was later showcased at an exhibition in Dubai.”

Kerkar also revealed how he exacted “poetic revenge” on Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, when the former was invited to Lisbon’s Tapada das Necessidades, a garden near the Lisbon harbour. A chapel housed in the garden is known for its historic legacy, because sailors who set off on their journey to discover new lands, including Vasco da Gama and Alfonso de Albuquerque, sought divine blessings in it. “Since the Portuguese have changed all the food habits of India, I took rice from Goa and I planted it in this garden in the shape of the sea route of Vasco da Gama. When the rice sprouted, it did not just sprout rice; it sprouted history,” said Kerkar.