‘The Memory Keepers & Future Seekers’ | Stories from six Goan heritage homes

Figueiredo House in Loutolim, Viegas House in Curtorim, and Fernandes House in Chandor
| Photo Credit: Ulka Chauhan

From their patterned mosaic floors to carved porches, many weighty books have recorded Goa’s heritage homes over the years. Yet, The Memory Keepers & Future Seekers: Portraits of Heritage Homes in Goa by photographer Ulka Chauhan and art curator Samira Sheth offers a new trajectory.

The photo book’s unique quality is the architecture of the narrative — a duologue that is both emotional and informational. “If you were to read it from front to back, there is a strong emotive arc that flows through the words and visuals, with the personal stories of the families and their fragments of memories, which reveal a deep sense of rootedness to their home and land,” says Chauhan. “However, if you were to read the book backwards, beginning at the elaborate glossary at the end, you will be informed of the context — historical, cultural, social, political and religious moments that were instrumental in the making and shaping of Goa and the state’s quintessential homes.”

Six historical homes

Chauhan, who is based between Mumbai, Goa and Zürich, started documenting Goa’s homes as part of a photo series, Beyond The Balcão, in 2021. And though it was presented at the International Photo Festival in Olten, Switzerland, and featured in the Leica Fotografie International journal, the stories of the houses kept pulling her back.

“I visited these homes and families several times over the last four years, capturing countless frames,” she says, adding that Sheth often accompanied her. “Samira’s words sparked ideas for my images, and vice versa. In that sense, our process was completely collaborative.”

The duo decided to focus on six houses whose foundations were laid as early as the 16th century. Through conversations over lunch, cups of coffee and glasses of wine, they put together memories and family histories. “This tiny coastal state was once the capital of the Portuguese empire in the East, and these homes hold the evidence of those cosmopolitan, transcultural and transoceanic histories,” says Sheth. Be it houses with underground escape routes and bullet hole marks that are a record of Goa’s turbulent past, or the sparkling Belgian glass chandeliers, Ming dynasty wash basins and other artefacts that speak to its once flourishing trade.

Duality of Goan culture

“There is much to appreciate and marvel at in these homes,” says Sheth. Like the rootedness of the houses’ keepers, who see themselves as custodians of a cultural legacy — standing as bulwarks against urban homogenisation and loss of property to strangers in the name of development.

Another fascinating aspect is their syncretic culture: in the Figueiredo home in Loutolim, church chairs from the time of King José I of Portugal sit next to furniture carved with motifs from Hindu mythology. In the Fernandes home in Chandor, Chauhan and Sheth chanced upon an aangan and an altar in the same built space.

“This is a book that showcases Goa of yore and its heritage, which is particularly relevant today given the overdevelopment that is inundating every aspect of its culture,” concludes Assagaon-based editorial photographer Rohit Chawla.

The Mumbai-based writer keeps busy with late night networking events and crazy deadlines.