F N Souza. The Making of a Consciousness
Thursday, 1 August 2024 | 6 pm
ART LECTURES
F N Souza
The Making of a Consciousness
Janeita Singh
Author, F N Souza, The Archetypal Artist
Moderated by
Délio Mendonça
Professor, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
Please join us for an Art Lecture on ‘F N Souza. The Making of a Consciousness’ by Janeita Singh and moderated by Délio Mendonça on Thursday, 1 August 2024 at 6 pm at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim.
Please join us for tea at 5:30 pm.
F N Souza
The Making of a Consciousness
Francis Newton Souza was an archetypal artist. His art codes an automated creative complex that needs to be understood. He was a man of his times, torn by dualities, but one who feels deeply, in love with Eros and beauty. Souza’s agenda was about truth and beauty personified first in his endless female portraits (the denied feminine principle in the collective human psyche), communist paintings (showcasing inequality and discrimination), landscapes (glory of nature and its elements), passion series (exposing citadels of power and corruption in organized religion), head series (seeking higher human consciousness), self-portraits (introspection and growth) and paintings born of his pursuit of world peace, the essence synthesized in his book, The White Flag Revolution.
Art is but the psyche talking to itself, the mind mapping its own development. His Heads series, for example, deciphers the unimaginable planes of collective human thought, creating new combinations. Also, in the ubiquitous theme of the human body, it was important for him to paint a palpably bad smelling, pricked, agonized body as much to portray its splendour in its natural symmetry. Nothing could be overlooked; parts of the anatomy, the shadows in the inner psychology, every little detail was precious. Such is the way of creation, of the way to full-bodied knowledge and to transformation. Rescued by the creative spirit, is what Souza’s case-study is all about, and as an outcome a close engagement with his art becomes visceral, thought-provoking and cathartic.
Janeita Singh
Janeita Singh is an author, researcher, columnist, and literary-art critic. Her illustrated monograph, FN Souza: The Archetypal Artist was published in 2024. She has lent her critical voice to the film, The Father of Indian Modernism. She is part of NVC Global Rising and admins Sculpting the Self: Jungian/Archetypal Art Group. She hosted the Live show Embodying Light and Shadow at the Embodiment Conference and led book readings on Carl Jung study groups. She was the Art Review Editor of Joao Roque Literary Journal and was awarded JRLJ ‘Non-fiction award, 2018’. Her byline, ‘Booked and How’ in Navhind Times featured literary writings for five years. Her articles have appeared in Art India, Indian Literature and other publications. She curated talks on contemporary arts - Raza Dialogues, with Raza Foundation and MOG, and presented her research study on FN Souza - Serendipity Art Festival, 2017-18. She also gave a talk on FN Souza at the exhibition, “Souza in the 40s” at Sunaparanta Centre of the Arts. As a critic and moderator, she was part of the Goa Art Literary Festival 2010-19. Her critical talks on art at the Dhoomimal Gallery, TIFA working studios, Fundação Oriente, The Festival of Space, The Project Café, GALF and Jungian circles have been determining.
Délio Mendonça
Délio Mendonça is Professor at the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He was born in Beira, Mozambique in 1958, and after completing his schooling in Portuguese in Mozambique, moved to his ancestral Goa in 1977. He has a Masters’ degree in History and in Portuguese Literature and Culture (Goa), and a PhD in History (Pune). While serving as the Director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Goa, he also taught Portuguese Literature and Culture at Goa University. He is the author of the seminal, Conversions and Citizenry: Goa under Portugal 1510–1610 (2002) and Fonseca (2022).
Image
FN Souza, 1963, Untitled, Pen and ink on paper, 13x8 in
Copyright The Souza Estate, care of DACS 2024
Courtesy: Dhoomimal Gallery
Background: Bangsal Nam
Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Porvorim, Goa 403521, India