Janet Mascarenhas
Nascimento de Souza observes nature through the eye of an artist. With delicate pencil strokes, he sketches the birds he sees with minute detail using distinct colours. A Mechanical and Electrical Engineer by profession, he rose from Design Engineer at Igranic Electric Company Ltd, Bedford, England, to Executive Director and then Managing Director of Mettur Beardsell Ltd, a multinational company. He has also served as the Chairman and committee member on several prestigious boards. A highly active nonagenarian, now retired from all commercial activity, he was the Vice-President of MOCA’s Managing Committee and has been associated with the Museum since its establishment in Rachol and was involved in its modernisation and development.
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THE ARTIST BEHIND THE WORK
Nascimento de Souza was born and raised in Africa. With no modern distractions back in the day, he spent a lot of time outdoors with nature as a young boy. He is a devoted advocate of nature. Throughout his professional life over the years, he has continued to nurture his love for nature. Around his home, he has created an atmosphere where nature and birds can thrive, setting up bird baths, feeders and anything that will attract birds. He is a keen observer and puts down his awe on paper. In his small carpentry workshop, there was a fire some years back after which it couldn’t be repaired, so he had to rebuild it and now uses the cozy space to sketch. He has always loved birds and went back to sketching as he cannot practice gardening at his age. “Why birds? First, my love for birds, and secondly, there’s a lovely group called Birds in Goa. I’m a member, and every day I get pictures from there, and so I’m inspired by them. I take those pictures and use them.” He cherished and mentions that the group complimented him, especially for the eyes of the birds he has sketched. “You look at all the eyes. Every one of them. When I do these sketches, I first concentrate on the eyes. If I don’t get the eye right, I start again. For me, the eye is the important part.” All his sketches are of birds seen around Goa. Among some of his favourite birds are the Red Whiskered Bulbul, the Magpie Robin, Malabar Pied Hornbill, the Malabar Trojan, Treepie and Sunbirds.
THE VIEWS OF NASCIMENTO Through his love for nature, he says he has “tried to propagate the thought that nature has given us so much and we have a responsibility to safeguard and admire it.” He expresses that it upsets him when people cut trees because the leaves mess up their place or they can’t see the sea. He says that he tries to convey through his sketches that one needs to have hobbies. “Especially in this competitive and stressful age, people have regular stress today; it is so high because of competition. We didn’t have that in my youth; we had less competitive days, but today having hobbies is not an option; it is an absolute must because having hobbies helps to reduce stress and also provides overall physical benefits and an avenue for creativity.” Hobbies, he says, have various benefits and can help in this highly competitive and stressful age. Apart from sketching, Nascimento loved gardening but can no longer practice due to age. He has also worked with wood, making desks, chairs and other furniture for his grandchildren; he has also made a wooden car that moves, which he proudly shared was used by all his grandchildren and is now kept on display. He also made the lampshades for his house; “we couldn’t find somebody to do that. I said, why can’t I do it?” he shared. “This is what I like to tell everyone. Have hobbies, any hobbies. Keep yourself occupied, somehow.
THE FASCINATING DISPLAY AT THE EXHIBITION
Nascimento has a collection of different coloured pencils, with different shades of a colour. Even with so many shades, he says he cannot match the exact colour these birds possess, even after trying his best. “When I made these sketches, I had no idea that they would be displayed. Because I hadn’t done these as masterpieces.” Nascimento has 106 sketches out of which 42 are for display at the museum. “When the museum approached me, I said, you know these are not masterpieces; I did it as a pastime. I did go in detail to make them perfect, but as a pastime”. The artworks on display were selected by the museum.
