#TG Life
The Raza-Souza Dialogues curated by Sabitha Satchi was held at Museum of Goa (MOG) recently. The two day symposium organised by MOG Foundation in collaboration with the Raza Foundation brought together icons of the contemporary Indian art scene to engage, converse, learn and share about the arts.
The first edition of Raza- Souza dialogues which was conceived to be an ideational exchange between eminent artists and scholars of diverse disciplines held panel discussions between seemingly disparate arenas of art and expertise including contemporary visual art, literature and performance art among others.
The first dialogue, on art and design moderated by the curator herself was headlined by the presence of fashion designer Wendell Rodricks and graphic artist, Orijit Sen.
The conversation touched upon textile history, supporting local craftsperson and indigenous traditions as well as working with art and design collectives. Orijit’s work as a graphic artist, graphic novelist and Wendell’s writings where art, design and writing intersect were also a part of the discussion.
Wendell spoke about his new venture, the Moda Goa Museum and Orijit about his work being political and the various issues he faces due to that. The student community present got to see the Mapusa Market project of Orijit and were fascinated by the intricacies of the installation.
The second dialogue between Suresh Jayaram, an artist, art historian, arts administrator and Arundhati Ghosh, executive director, India Foundation for the Arts was moderated by Subodh Kerkar.
The session on Art Institutions came into life with a two-minute video presented by Suresh Jayaram on 1.Shanthiroad. Being also the founder, he had lots of stories to share on the 12 years of his life at Shanthiroad. One of his favourite anecdotes was how one fine day he found a resident artist walking strip naked on the street just outside of 1.Shanthiroad which was or is also his home.
Arundhati spoke of her journey from management institutes to starting at the IFA as a fund-raiser, while adding with a bit of humour about being careful while around her, as she manages to raise funds from almost everyone she meets.
A conversation on India Foundation for the Arts as a patron for arts and ideas and 1 Shantiroad as a supporter of art projects and creator of archives followed later.
The moderator of the conversation Dr Kerkar, implied on the importance of art institutions that support experimental work, community outreach and mentoring as well as the significance of artist-driven contemporary arts-institutions.
Day two of the symposium started with Vishram Gupte moderating a session between Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo and Marathi poet and publisher Hemant Divate. Gupte being familiar with both of the artists engaged the audience with a crisp dialogue on writing and regional languages. The conversation touched upon the various aspects and of the relationship between Marathi and Konkani literature.
Bhai Mauzo as he is fondly known connected his life as a shopkeeper and its limitations to why he writes in the short fiction format.
Divate talked of his role as a major publisher of poetry in English and how he is managing to run the business with profit.
Vishram took the discussion to the importance of writing and publishing in bhasha languages and the politics of bhasha literature.
The final dialogue of the series was the much anticipated discussion between the winner of DSC prize for South Asian Literature Jeet Thayil and the curator of the series Sabitha Satchi.
Jeet taking the conversation forward introduced the audience to the life and the persona’s of both FN Souza and SH Raza vividly describing his experience with both while interviewing them at length at various stages of his career.
The dialogue then moved to how both Sabitha and Jeet have illustrious personalities as their fathers, the acclaimed journalist T J S George and award winning poet K Satchidanandan and their relationship. Sabitha interestingly mentioned about a poem she wrote titled My Father “ Shade and Shadow which encompassed the views of the panelist towards the topic.
The dialogues provided with an opportunity for the socially, politically and environmentally conscious citizens of Goa to gather and break the seemingly isolated intellectual discussions that happen within the elite circles and put them back into public spaces - where they rightfully belong.
