Staff Reporter

Margao

After the successful launch and ongoing exhibition of wayside crosses, Bigfoot Cross Museum, Loutolim, has now come up with a photo contest on wayside crosses with an aim of highlighting, documenting and preserving their importance and uniqueness.

The exhibition of the wayside crosses was launched in May and it featured pictures of wayside crosses mounted as beads of a rosary.

To further carry on with the work of gathering information and documenting the wayside crosses in the state, Bigfoot has launched the photo contest, which also has attractive prizes and a listing on a future book to be printed on the subject.

Speaking about the initiative while talking to media persons on Tuesday, Bigfoot’s owner Maendra Alvares said, “Goa’s landscape is dotted with crosses and everywhere you go, you will find one. Some of them have a background, history or a legend attached to it. We thought why not try to find out about this history.”

“When we went around, we found that many of the old people are not living anymore and the younger generation doesn’t know what exactly the history is. It would have been difficult for us to go all across Goa and take pictures and hence thought of a contest where people could come forward with their own stories of their village or neighbourhood crosses,” he said.

The requirements for the photo submission include a picture with the location and a brief history of the cross including who built it or why and when it was built. Pictures of crosses, preferably without glaze tiles, can be sent to trustbigfoot@gmail.com or sent via WhatsApp to +917350746935. The deadline for submission is July 30, 2023.

Rs 10,000 will be awarded to the first prize winner, while the second prize winner will bag Rs 8,000. Rs 5,000 will be given to the third prize winner. Five special prizes of Rs 2,000 each will also be presented. The top 100 photos will be displayed at the Bigfoot Art Gallery in Loutolim and selected pictures will be published in a book with due credits.