"It is despairingly lonely to look into the mirrors of history and never find reflections of yourself," said Selma Carvalho, Project Manager and Curator of Past Lives: The Exhibition, presented by the Oral Histories of British-Goans Project, the first exhibition of its kind in the Goan worldwide diaspora. This exhibition hopes to do just that, create historical reflections for the younger generation while preserving the heritage of an older generation.
The exhibition was launched by Flavio Gracias, Company Secretary and former President of the Goan Association on the evening of June 4, 2013. Following a welcome speech by Sangeeta Bahadur, Minister of Culture with the High Commission of India and Director of the Nehru Centre, Flavio in his inaugural speech outlined the genesis of the project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund UK, to chronicle the histories of British-Goans. Carvalho expressed the hope that the visual narrative of the migratory journeys of Goans finds a permanent and larger home in a museum in Goa. The enchanting evening of the preview night was made complete by profoundly moving operatic duets and solos by world-renowned soprano Patricia Rosario and the rising star Oscar Castellino. They delivered a stunning operatic rendition of Aum Saiba poltolli vhetam. An impromptu attendance by UK's Cabinet Minister, Vince Cable, was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Over a 100 Goans attended the preview night. The Exhibition runs to 14 June. For 10 photographs of the event, including those of Mervyn Maciel, Ravi Vaz - President of Goan Association (UK), Flavio Gracias, Oscar Castellino, Patricia Rosario and Vince Cable at the event, go to http://bit.ly/1b8nJka
