https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/O-Come-All-Ye-Faithful-to-MoCA/198268
In this holiday season filled with good cheer, and gorgeous artistic outpourings extending all across the Mandovi riverfront to every corner of India’s smallest state, it is wonderful to see the newly reconfigured Museum of Christian Art stand out, and hold its own with the best in the country – indeed the world – as a beacon of Goa’s unique cultural heritage. This increasingly invaluable institution’s jewel-like setting on the Holy Hill of Old Goa, in one old wing of the spectacular 17th century Convent of Santa Monica (which is still the largest in Asia) has never looked better, and it is genuinely moving to walk through MoCA’s superb medieval and early modern collection directly into *Engraved Treasures*, where an eclectic, knowingly selected coterie of contemporary artists of Goa has responded to Lina Vincent’s curatorial challenge with excellent, thoughtful and provocative artworks. Vincent must be credited for an exceptionally well-conceived concept, which she parses carefully in her essay to accompany the exhibition: “The artists were invited to respond to a single object, an 18th Century Bible [from the MoCA collection] with engraved works within it. We built a focus around imagery reflecting the birth of Christ and his young life, to commemorate the time of Christmas. In the process, each of the artists interacted with the material at multiple levels – through a physical plane, with the book and its relevance as a text; through the history of European art and printmaking; from the point of view of the legacy of the printed page and publishing; and through the collective contemporary experience of being in Goa, a former Portuguese colony that reveals a complex mingling of cultures.” The full title is *Engraved Treasures: Past and Present in Continuum*, and Vincent explains that “Histories bind us together like the threads in a multihued tapestry, stretched across time and space. Metaphorically viewed as a whole, some parts could be faded, disappearing; others could be fragile, with torn portions held together by mere strands – yet other parts can be vivid and shiny, as strong today as when they were made. A museum has the ability to show us this tapestry that we are part of, a collective whole of which the parts remain connected despite differences, or similarities for that matter. Culture, whatever form it may take, resonates with civilisational shifts and changes that in turn respond largely to human acts of socio-political interaction. In creating a lens that draws together aspects of the past and present within the same dialogue, the exhibition addresses these points of intersection between various layers of tangible and intangible experience, and heritage.” There are many stand-out artworks in this winning MoCA show. I happened to walk through earlier this week with the great British photographer Derry Moore, and both of us were thoroughly wowed by the subtle, stunning images of Old Goa interiors by Lester Silveira. Vincent puts it well: “The notion of time and space, and their physical and transcendental dimensions become part of Lester Silveira’s photographic series. In his observation of biblical illustrations, the use of light depicted as linear rays bursting through the clouds or entering through architectural apertures formed a critical component to convey the presence of God, or the Holy Spirit. Similarly, in church architecture, a divine atmosphere was created by channelling light through various spatial and structural configurations like domes, vaults and clerestories. Silveira’s images explore these moments of ethereal light that can be experienced by anyone entering these spaces.” There’s an unexpected connection between *Engraved Treasures* and *Indian Christmas: Essays, Memories, Hymns* (Speaking Tiger), the attractive new anthology edited by Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle. That is *Nativity* by Nishant Saldanha, the Verem-based artist who is on MoCA’s creative team (note: Damodar Mauzo and I also represent Goa in the volume). Here, it’s worth dwelling what Pinto says in his introduction: “I think the birth of Mary’s child moves the world to joy and generosity because we all – even those not of the faith – carry the image of the apostle of peace nailed to the cross. His suffering was great; the price he chose to pay so we would learn to love. He would raise no armies, wield no weapons, fight no wars, but we would turn no one away. It is this knowledge – that love and peace will not be extinguished by rejection, betrayal and cruelty; that the child will become a man who will teach us this lesson for eternity – which makes us celebrate the miracle of his birth as our own private miracle, renewing our faith in life. In humanity. In ourselves.” This is so finely and usefully framed. Joy to the world, by all means, but only in acknowledgement of the passion, the struggle, the losses and the good fight that is ever upon us in the human condition. In this regard, I was struck by Vijay Bhandare’s *Ode à Língua Latina*, which Vincent tells us “depicts a gathering for the arrival of the Christ child [in Old Goa], with accentuated visuals of clouds, foliage and architectural elements in the distance, celebrating the momentous happening.” To my eye, there’s clearly another meaning – which, when I asked, the artist said had not occurred to him – that imbues the scene with portent and menace: the dark cumulus could easily be seen as smoke from the destruction of “native” manuscripts and religious structures during the painful advent of European colonialism in India. Perhaps even more powerful is Loretti Pinto’s searing, anguished *Redemption*, which sacralizes the cultural blasphemy being imposed on Goa by, amongst others, the reviled casino “industry.” The artist told me that her painting is, above all, "about hope and healing for the land and its people." There are several other terrific works in *Engraved Treasures*, which is itself just one more reason to visit MoCA, an institution that is now truly one of the cultural jewels of India after its extensive renovation. Here, for the very first time in Goa, we have state-of-the art displays, with impeccable lighting and signage, in an astounding architectural setting that is itself one-of-a-kind. Every visitor will probably be attracted to something different in this exhibition, but the artwork that struck me most deeply was Viraj Naik’s bountiful, brilliant *Other Species who visited Infant Jesus*, which depicts “the Son of Man” attended by an appealingly inclusive host of worshipful visitors. Everyone will recognize the “traditional” cattle alongside this outstanding artist’s characteristic mytho-fantastic menagerie, but – most winningly – there are also masses of more humble creepy-crawlies that would never fit into any western conception of “the manger scene.” It’s an outstandingly appealing Goan Christmas icon, and deserves immediate inclusion in MoCA’s permanent collection.