To Goanet
GOA - AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT
A Photo Exhibition by Rajan P. Parrikar
Where:
Institute Menezes Braganza (Art Gallery)
Near Azad Maidan, Panjim, Goa
When:
November 1 - 6, 2007, 9 am to 7 pm
Admission:
Free, and open to all
To the popular imagination the world over, Goa is the fun-filled destination
of sun, sand and feni. To the Goan this advertisement strikes as inane, a
blurb coined by the tourism industry.
The tableau presented here is a subset of the photographs I took over 45
days from June through September 2007. This is the Goa seen through the
eyes of an insider, and is a portrayal of the harmonious, inseparable
marriage of the land with its social, religious & cultural elements. Goa's
ecosystem is sui generis, and its delicate, gentle and civilized ethos to be
found nowhere else.
However, this equilibrium is now under severe strain. Assault on the land
by the real estate sharks, complicity of the venal Goan politicos, and the
hordes of outsiders pitching their tents here have put Goa on the fast-track
to doom.
This exhibition is a futile attempt to awaken the indolent Goan to the
wealth that surrounds him and which he stands to lose.
