Beasts of Reincarnations: Mythical beings in the city

Free
Special Project
Craft

Curated by
Diptej Vernekar

12th December - 21st December
09:00 AM - 12:00 AM

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Through large-scale installations across Panjim’s heritage streets and waterways, Diptej Vernekar reimagines Goa’s living traditions of effigy-making, where demons, deities, and imagined creatures are born and reborn each year through community rituals.

These mythical beings are imagined as creatures of metamorphosis — hybrid entities suspended between past and present, ritual and spectacle, destruction and renewal. Constructed from ephemeral materials like bamboo, paper, and cloth, yet animated with contemporary techniques, these beasts inhabit the city as temporary guardians, disruptors, and storytellers.

Rooted in the tradition of Narkasur effigy-making in Panjim, the project traces the journey of a mythical destroyer of order into a creator of festivity. What was once a symbol of fear now brings communities together in acts of collective storytelling and artistry. Over time, these effigies have expanded beyond demonic archetypes, absorbing imagery from local fauna, marine life, endangered species, and sacred animistic traditions that honor rivers, trees, and non-human spirits. They have become both cultural memory and social commentary, reflecting power, masculinity, ecological anxieties, and the evolving ethos of the city.

The project engages with ecological storytelling, drawing inspiration from endangered species of the Western Ghats and animistic practices that honor rivers, trees, and non-human life forms as spiritual presences. This project is deeply collaborative, shaped by the knowledge and craftsmanship of local artisans and youth groups who sustain these traditions. It seeks not only to document but to reawaken these practices, creating new incarnations that speak to ecological interdependence and urban transformation.

Beasts of Reincarnation: Mythical Beings in the City explores how these forms — once feared, revered, and celebrated — transform across time, reappearing in new guises that merge mythology, ecology, and contemporary urban life.

Collaborators:

Subha Tari

Team 45, a group of Artisans from Kumbharjua

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