Every weekend for the last two months, a motley group of children
and parents have been converging near the Aldona market square, at the Aldona
Community Centre, engrossed in an almost reverential way in painting a decrepit
wall at the children’s play area. As the days go by, the visible change and the
transformation of that area is visible. Suddenly the overgrown weeds and shrubs
have vanished, the space cleared up and the painted wall which is symbolic of
all that is seen in the village: the ubiquitous butterflies, frogs, snakes,
squirrels, cats, dogs and the frequently seen ‘poders’, cobblers and other
sundry humans takes shape as a beautiful representation of this bucolic
village, painted to life by these children.
Conceived by the project team and resident
artists, Isa Hinojosa, Conrad Pinto and Eveny Luis and community members,
Flavia Lobo and Blaise D’sa of the Alban Couto Library (a branch of Bookworm),
this labour of love was the result of some serious reflection done during a
series of workshops with the children. Isa explains, “The Tree of Life is a
recurrent theme that is easy for children to understand. We were keen on
focusing on the biodiversity of our village that people could easily identify.
After several workshops with the kids between October and December last year,
we began with the actual painting of the mural only in January.”
Revealing the underlying reason that
spurred them to apply for this grant, Isa says, “We have fond memories of this
play area when our kids were little. Our friend Gordon Lobo would always prod
us that as artists we should do something to revive this space. After his sad
demise during the pandemic, this resolve only got stronger and we wanted to act
on his idea. Aldona has a tradition of being a diverse community that works in
unison. We wanted to tap into this spirit of community.” With a sponsorship
grant of Rs. 50,000, this collaborative work was set in motion. Isa continues,
“The grant covered only the material costs. Our involvement and time was our
investment in the project and though we were worried at the beginning whether
kids would turn up at all, given the pandemic fears, we were thrilled to see
this orchestra take shape. It gave us a lot of joy seeing it take shape.”
Being friends, the conviviality and ease of working together
showed and Conrad Pinto, with his prior experience of working on such intensive
projects helped the team navigate efficiently without delays. “This mural has
been received very well. At least now, Aldona has a community project that we
can be proud of,” he says jubilantly and also adds, “15 years ago, we had done
a similar exercise in the same space that led to a lot of positive changes and
an impetus to improve the infrastructure in the park area. We hope this time
too, we see a similar impact. Public spaces are important and while the
Panchayat is supposed to form a committee for public projects including art
projects, I haven’t seen any of them being passed. There are government funds
allocated for beautification of villages but it takes will and the lethargy in
local institutions needs to change.”
Voicing a similar sentiment, Isa reiterates, “We need to reclaim
our public spaces. In an otherwise restricted and scheduled regimen in most
schools, these open spaces help children to play and express themselves freely.
Art is a wonderful medium for this kind of expression.”
At the inauguration of its second edition, Boundaries, Gopika Chowfla,
one of the founders of the Goa Open Arts Collective cannot be more emphatic
when she says, “Goa Open Arts has a modest corpus but its impetus enthuses
everyone. While the Catalyst Grants 2022 focuses on Goa based artists and gives
them an opportunity to show their work, this was the first time we initiated a
new grant – Engage Grant that enables artists to engage with the local
community. ” It is noteworthy that this collective has no corporate backing and
is purely crowdfunded and supported by artists to sustain Art.
The impact on the participating children of Aldona has been
endearingly memorable. As a parent in the group rightly said, “When children
come together and when they are supported in a non competitive environment,
they are allowed the freedom to be. This project will forever be etched as a
memory of their village to treasure.”
We can only hope other villages take a leaf out of this
initiative. The idea of a ‘sobit’ Goa can only be galvanised by investment in
endeavours such as these to retain the splendour and identity of our villages.
(The
second edition of the Goa Catalyst Grant titled ‘Boundaries’ is currently
ongoing at the Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts from April 30th to May 30th.
Among the works of artists Farah Mulla, Vinita Barretto, Sanayvi Naik, Urna
Sinha, Rai and Savyasachi, the Aldona Community Collaborative is also being
showcased.)
