‘Open Air Worship’, a photo exhibition of wayside crosses set up along the beads
of the rosary at Bigfoot, Loutolim, is a way to highlight them
DIANA FERNANDES NT NETWORK
It may be a general trend for people to honk their vehicle horns as they pass by crosses located along the roadsides, but Loutolim’s Bigfoot is hoping its latest photo exhibition of wayside crosses will bring about a different understanding and devotion. The ‘Open Air Worship’ photo exhibition of wayside crosses was inaugurated on May 3, celebrated as the Feast of the Cross in many parts of the state, and curated by Bigfoot’s founder Maendra Alvares.
The exhibition consists of a cross placed in each of the 59 beads of the rosary with a ceramic cross at the start of the exhibition. The crosses featured in the exhibition are majorly from the villages of Loutolim, Raia, and Sao Jose de Areal, with a few from Panaji and Bogmala.
“The idea for the exhibition came about when I was thinking of the rosary and the crosses that we see around us. I wanted to make an exhibition that would include a combination of the two,” says Alvares. Thus, equipped with a DSLR camera, he went around capturing images of crosses that are a bit unusual and don’t have bathroom tiles on their sides. “There are so many crosses in the village itself that many people aren’t aware of. I feel in the future, many may get replaced with tiles and metal roofing,” he says.
Preserving traditions related to wayside crosses was another reason for Alvares to take up this work. “At wayside crosses, very often candles are lit. In the past, people would come and say a rosary. Today, the culture has changed and at the most you may hear a vehicle horn as it passes by the cross. Often, the younger generation is not aware of these traditions. So, I think the exhibition is a way of preserving a tradition,”
he says.
Going about the process of setting up the exhibition was no easy task. Since the idea was to put each picture of the cross in the bead of the rosary, the sizing of the pictures had to be reduced. He had also initially planned on putting up details beside each picture of the cross but decided against it. But Alvares is happy with the way it turned out because it fits in with the aesthetic and simplicity he had in mind.
Also, each cross, says Alvares, has a back story. For instance, he points out that some are made entirely of one stone. One in Raia has its base wider on one side and it is thought that was done so that it could be used as a resting place for a weary traveller or maybe a place for devotees to sit and recite the rosary.
In fact, Raia-based Pedro Arrupe Institute’s Fr. Savio Rodrigues, who inaugurated the exhibition, believes that there is a need to visit and look into each cross’s history. “We need to visit the roadside crosses with a critical eye and critical mind and try to discover what they are trying to portray to us. There were a few offbeat crosses that I saw at the exhibition, while most others were stereotypes. We need to see if there is any historical importance,” says Rodrigues.
(The exhibition will be open for viewing at the Bigfoot Art Gallery, Loutolim, from 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. till May 14)