“Goa
has beautiful ancestral history and art, and it’s our duty to
preserve this age-old treasure chest,” says Karishma Alvares, a
graphic designer by profession and an art and museum lover. Unlike
the
many who wish
to leave Goa after their education to make it big,
professionally,
Karishma decided to do her bit in Goa itself. “Goa is largely seen
as a holiday destination. Even our youngsters want to go out of Goa
for greater opportunities and earning. However, I wanted to stay back
in Goa and do something here. As I was always interested in ancestral
history and artefacts,
and as Goa has a lot of it, I decided to focus on that,” she says.
Even
though she is more famous for her research on ancestral history and
collection of ancient icons, Karishma
is also a great artist. She is currently hosting an exhibition of her
paintings at Big Foot Art Gallery. Talking about it, she expresses,
“For the exhibition, I have put together the best of the paintings
I have worked
on over
the last few
years. They do not revolve around a particular subject as such, but
are just a reflection of the things that have inspired me, at those
moments.”
At
Big Foot,
the endeavour of her father Maendra Alvares, Karishma
has worked closely with all four of the museums that are part
of it. “One
is the very famous museum of Ancestral Goa. The second one is our
family home, that is restored and converted into a
museum, third
is the museum of Crosses,
and fourth, the Museum of Prayer Beads. I have my bits of
contribution in the collections
and presentations
in these museums,” she explains. “A lot of research was involved
while
displaying the contents of the latter two. The Museum of Crosses has
crosses from all over the world. Each cross has a different design
and significance,
so, they are
classified according to their design and meaning. Similarly, Museum
of Prayer Beads has a variety of beads used in different religions in
different parts of the world. When you work with such varied
artefacts
and objects, an intense research is required,” Karishma states.
One
of her most appreciated works
though lies in the museum of her ancestral house. It’s the
collection of ancient icons. “In my ancestral house, there is a
chapel. I found a collection of around 70 icons inside that chapel.
When I was studying religious art, I developed an interest towards
these symbols and decided to work more on them. As the study
progressed, I came across many more and got fond of collecting them.
Some of them were also gifted to me by the people who
knew that I
was doing research on such icons. Thus, combining the earlier ones
and the ones I collected, I now have a huge collection of around 500
icons. I am still working on it,” she maintains.
Along
with her passion for history and art, Karishma also has a great sense
of responsibility as far as the
environment
and awareness is concerned. “The environment is in dire need of
attention.
We need to make everyone aware that they have to contribute to
protect environment.
What better
place to start with
than the
children?” she opines. Karishma has been conducting several
competitions and workshops for kids where they will enjoy as well as
learn about nature. “When the issue of saving the coconut trees was
burning all over Goa, we organised a coconut tree drawing competition
for kids. We also had a competition to decorate coconut shells and
tie a ribbon around them, promising to protect them. Apart from this,
we conduct an annual art camp for children, wherein we teach them to
paint with the help of natural colours (made of mud, leaves, flowers,
etc) and handmade brushes. We also encourage and promote age-old arts
like coir art,” she adds.
To
conclude, she says, “Ancestral history and art is the field I have
always loved and will
continue to
work in it. I
believe that
if we don’t take care of these ancient things, they will soon be
gone and our future generations wouldn’t get a chance to explore
them. So it’s our responsibility to preserve our history.”
