Dom Martin

Dom Martin is a poet, writer and surrealist painter. Born of Goan parentage in British East Africa, he later lived in Goa, India, where as a young man, he joined the Benedictine Order. However, shortly thereafter, his creative inclinations overtook his religious leanings, and he left the monastery “to follow what would then become his twin beacons of art and poetry.” In 1980, he emigrated to the United States, where he continues to reside among the redwoods in Mill Valley, California.

Work
He is most well known for his permanent exhibition of more than 60 oil paintings and ink drawings on permanent display since 1972 at a World Heritage Monument, the Bom Jesus Basilica in Old Goa India. Also known for championing social and archeological causes with his fiery metaphorical prose, Martin gained notoriety when he, like James James Abbott McNeill Whistler, tackled the press by filing a criminal defamation suit against The Times of India in 1978. The case drug on for more than 17 years, being finally set aside by the Supreme Court of India in 1995 - quite possibly the longest criminal defamation suit in history.

More currently, Dom Martin’s poetic and artistic talents have expressed themselves in a series of four published illustrated volumes of poetry dedicated to expounding the ethos of human strife and survival. He also continues to head the Vincent Xavier Verodiano Foundation, which he established in 1989 in memory of his late father, Vincent Xavier Verodiano Martin. Each year, the Foundation confers the Verodiano Award to recognize those who have made significant contribution to the betterment of society and the environment. Prominent past Verodiano Laureates include Fr. Chico Monteiro and Vasudeo S. Gaitonde.

Poetry
Among other writings, Dom Martin is the author of four volumes of poetry. The first, The Day Before the Day After (1985), propounds the doom’s day scenario of a nuclear holocaust. His second volume, Exodus to Eternity (2000), is a biographical anecdote of human hope and despair, and of the journey towards survival of mankind. COEXISTENCE: Humanity’s Wailing Wall (2006), accosts the ills of military invasion and occupation, and “challenges us to re-examine our oft-neglected attitudes and biases that we may more honestly reshape our expectations.” In his current volume, GENOCIDE: The New Order of Imperialism (2008), the poet sheds metaphorical light on the genocidal use of depleted uranium and of the infamies of the War on Terror.

Visual art

Stations of the Cross
The nave of the Bom Jesus Basilica is adorned with Stations of the Cross which Dom Martin painted in oil in 1972. They are the first of their kind, where focus is brought to bear on the face of Christ as opposed to his image being diminished by the theatrical melee of Roman soldiers and the wailing populace and antagonists. This concept of centralizing the passion within the contours of the face has since influenced other artists and has been adapted in varied forms in other churches around the world.

Abbe Faria

On the occasion of the 250th birth anniversary of Abbe Faria, the ‘Father of Hyptonism’, Dom Martin took the lead initiative to petition the governments of France, Portugal and India to issue a commemorative stamp. Portugal responded by issuing a colorful commemorative postcard.

The Church of St. Anne (Talaulim, Goa)
At a height of 110 feet and a width of 105 feet, the Church of St. Anne, Talaulim is a masterpiece of Indian baroque, and visibly the largest monument of its kind in Asia. Dom Martin is credited with saving this architectural gem from collapse when, in 1974, he successfully campaigned for funds to replace the deteriorated roof and repair the belfry. Had it not been for this timely intervention, the vault of the church would have most certainly collapsed, as it had already suffered significant damage from the monsoons.

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