Souza on show as JNAF reopens doors

Puja Vaish and Ranjit Hoskote

After a wait of almost two years, the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation (JNAF) is set to reopen its doors on October 30. Director Puja Vaish shared that the opening is marked by an exhibition that is “worth the wait”. Titled FN Souza: The Power and the Glory, it’s curated by Ranjit Hoskote, and provides a reading of Souza’s works as negotiations with religious dogma and dissent, related socio-religious political moments in history, as also art/art historical trajectories germane to the artist’s practice, she told this diarist. “The scale and impact of seeing artworks in the flesh is an experience that the online space cannot match. We look forward to in-person interactions in keeping with visitor safety protocols followed by the museum, as well as continued engagement with our widespread online audiences,” she said. The exhibition takes its title from the Lord’s Prayer, ‘For Thine is the kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.’ “Visitors will get to see some of Souza’s most poignant works from our collection, works by some of his contemporaries, his chemical works from the Pundole’s collection, and a selection of Goan Christian religious objects from CSMVS’ collection,” she said.