Students of Goa College of Art had the rare opportunity
to showcase their talent, not just in Goa but in Uttarakhand, where lakhs of
devotees will be making their way to Badrinath Temple for the Char Dham Yatra.
Over a period of ten days, the students along with their professor and members
of the Goa Art and Culture Department, braved the weather and created their
murals in a record time.
Kranti Chari is an employee of Art and Culture
department and was previously a lecturer at the Goa College of Art. She was
joined by staff members, Snehal Shetye and Shrinesh Hinde from the Art and
Culture department from Goa. “We received this proposal in mid-March from the
central government which came directly addressed to the Secretary of the Art
and Culture Department. It came directly to Goa and for the students in Goa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Badrinath temple and ass it was the
site where many people would be coming in the next months, we wanted the walls
decorated. Since the temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the panels had to be
based on his avatars,” explains Kranti Chari from Panjim.
She further adds, “Ten students were assigned the ten
avatars. Initially we planned on individual panels but when we saw the actual
size, we compiled the mural into one huge 8 feet by 84 feet mural. Three
students worked on different avatars on a size of 8 feet by 12 feet each. I
worked on one panel depicting Devki Krishna holding Krishna as a child in her
arms, which is only seen in one temple in the whole of India, at Shree Devki
Krishna Temple in Marcel.”
Himanshu Khurana, District Magistrate, Chamoli,
Uttarakhand and Kumkum Joshi, Sub-District Magistrate extended their support to
the team. “There were many challenges on the road to success. Many students fell
sick after arriving at the site. The cyclone hit at 3 pm on April 17 just after
we had washed the wall and applied the first primer. We also got a chance to live in a Gurudwara
and it gives us a great sense of achievement to see our murals on display,”
says Kranti.
Ten students created murals based on the ten avatars
of Lord Vishnu which is also known as Dashavatara. Ashish Phal Desai worked on
Matsya (fish) avatar, Shubam Palekar worked on Kurma (tortoise) avatar, Sahil
Naik worked on Varaha (boar) avatar, Narayan Vernekar worked on Narasimha
(man-lion) avatar, Rutika Dessai worked on Vamana (dwarf-god) avatar, Pratiksha
Parab worked on Parashurama (Brahman warrior) avatar, Jodan De Souza worked on Rama
avatar, Sneha Vadkar worked on Krishna avatar, Rohit Pagi worked on Buddha
avatar and Akash Gaonkar worked on Kalki avatar.
Prayuj Velip worked on Vishvarupa of Lord Krishna, Atharva
Shenavi Mandrekar worked on Badrinath form of Lord Vishnu where he is depicted in
the padmasana posture in the temple sitting while Abhilasha Goswami worked on
Anant Roop. The students were guided by Gopal Kudaskar, assistant professor,
Painting Department, Goa College of Art.
Atharva Shenavi
Mandrekar from Bicholim is a master’s degree student at the college and was
enthusiastic to take on the challenge of painting the mural in a short time
frame at one of the highest altitudes in the country. A keen learner, Atharva
participates in exhibitions and keeps himself updated with the latest trends in
art. “The college received the notification by the end of March and in April,
we started preparing our artworks. The original works had to be created on
asbestos sheets and to work on a mural, you first have to see the size of the
wall. We started our work on April 17 and on the very same day, there was
hailstorms with thunderstorms and lightning. Some of the sheets fell and broke
and remaining had to be immediately shifted indoors. We were working in Govind
Ghat Gurudwara, and since murals are huge projects, we had to be very careful
with the paint. The weather was very unpredictable and since it was in a valley.
The temperature would even drop to minus degrees which made it difficult to
work with the speed that we would have done in Goa. We wouldn’t work
continuously as the oxygen level would drop. We also had a short deadline as
the murals had to be ready and placed at the entrance of the Badrinath Temple,
which opened on April 27, and will be open for six months before it closes
again,” says Atharva.
Explaining about the medium used for the painting,
Atharva says since the murals will be outdoor, it had to be exterior wall
paints. The Badrinath Char Dham Yatra will remain open to the public most
likely till November 21, 2023. “Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, this temple is also
one of the most important pilgrimage sites in India. Prime Minister of India,
Narendra Modi has a masterplan for the temple and this project was undertaken
as a trial basis. Hopefully, looking at the success, more colleges will
participate in the coming years to add to their learning experience. I really enjoyed
this project as Badrinath is beautiful place with mountains full of snow and
valleys, which I felt very inspiring as a visual artist,” says Atharva.
Prayuj Velip
from Quepem, worked on the design of his mural while enroute to his
destination, “The students had to randomly pick a lot and I was assigned Vishwa
Swarupa, a panel which depicts all the avatars of Lord Krishna which he reveals
to Arjun in the Mahabharat. It was challenging to work in extreme climatic
conditions as we are not acclimatized to this weather. We had to follow a
proper schedule so that the work was completed on time. There was no effect on
the paint and it was easy to work with the medium,” says Prayuj.
Principal of Goa
College of Art, Altinho, Prof Wilfred Goes, was constantly following up on the
progress and challenges of the students. “The students have done a great job on
the project. The work was completed indoors and now are installed at the temple
which will viewed by so many pilgrims. It was also completed in a record time. The
initial correspondence from the Art and Culture department which came from the
central government mentioned 50 students but since the Bachelor degree students
will be answering their exams, we informed them that we can assign the project
to 15 master’s degree students. The project was announced in the college and we
also warned them about the harsh weather conditions. A total of 13 students
submitted their names. I specially requested the department to provide them
with air tickets as usually students are not provided with air travel. I wanted
them to be fresh when they started their work. They were also accompanied by
staff members of the art and culture department which included our ex-student,
Kranti Chari. We has group discussions with the students before they left from
Goa and since they are master’s students, they can visualize what they want,”
says Prof Wilfred.
This is the
first time that the students of Goa College of Art have undertaken such a huge
project outside the state. “We previously had students painting murals on the walls
of Ravindra Bhavan, Margao and also the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim for
the Lusofonia Games in 2014. More recently, the students of Goa College of Arts
created a sand sculpture of chief minister Pramod Sawant at Miramar beach, for
his 50th birthday under the guidance of Prof Rajendra Mardolkar and two experts
to guide them,” adds Prof Wilfred.
The students and
staff members visited Badrinath Temple on the day of the opening and from
there, they headed to Mana, the last Indian village near Indo-China border.
They will be travelling to Rishikesh and proceed to Delhi, where they will
board a train to travel to Goa. They will be back home in Goa on May 1.
This art project
also showcased the beauty of communal harmony. Jodan De Souza was one of the
students who participated in the project where the murals were painted inside Govind
Ghat Gurudwara, which was finally installed at the entrance of the Badrinath
Temple, highlighting the colors of a united India.