Four Nepali and four Dutch artists will feature in a project to draw attention to what has been lost as Kathmandu Valley is transformed from an integrated rural-urban society to a metropolis of 4 million people. The transition has happened just in the last 30 years with the growth accelerating after the start of the 10-year conflict in 1996. What was once an emerald valley has turned into a concrete jungle. The NEDNEP3 2024/2026 art project of the eight artists will unfold in two phases with a current show till 5 January in the Netherlands, and during the Kathmandu Triennale in February 2026. The ongoing exhibition is in the northern Dutch city of Haarlem at <a href="https://www.devishal.nl/kunst/from-burning-rice-fields-to-urban-growth/" target="_blank">De Vishal</a>, a popular hub of contemporary art.&nbsp; The exhibition is curated by Dutch artists Erna Anema and Renate Schwarz, who have been frequent visitors to Nepal and they have selected the works of four Nepali artists (Sujan Dangol, Kripa Tuladhar, Sunita Maharjan and Sagar Chhetri) along with artists Maartje Smits and Liesbet Bussche and themselves from The Netherlands. Anema and Schwarz spent five weeks at the ceramics workshop of Dil Bahadur Prajapati in Thimi, making their ceramic sculptures for this project and meeting Nepali artists and planning their collaboration. Sujan Dangol was in The Netherlands during the preparations and the grand opening of the exhibition at De Vishal in Haarlem. He also conducted workshops there and at the renowned Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.&nbsp; Erna Anema’s work is titled Moraines to Clay and uses clay, oil on canvas in a large installation. She says, “I want to take you on a journey from the pressed clay circles of the Kathmandu Valley supported by sculptures representing the moraines to the towering ice giants of the Himalayas, which are represented on the left wall in sculptural forms.” Anema’s installation includes two clay tiles sourced from one of the valley’s remaining fertile rice fields.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122804128_04e9ed612274775036fc408a7d957e446b84402926b535c7b740ccd0b4a84442.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024122804128_04e9ed612274775036fc408a7d957e446b84402926b535c7b740ccd0b4a84442" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="From Burning Rice Fields to Urban Growth"> <figcaption>Erna Anema's Moraines to Clay</figcaption> </figure>  Liesbet Bussche’s Building Rings is made of clay blocks and brick dust and is an artist’s tribute to the black clay (kalimati) of Kathmandu Valley that allowed the emergence of its unique architectural heritage and civilisation. Kripa Tuladhar’s Remembrance of Shadows is made of traditional lokta paper and thread and evokes the Asan neighbourhood, which she says becomes a canvas of its people, marked by those who have passed through it. “Layers of movement from the footsteps of our ancestors, crumbling bricks and windows, and the future pushing its way against the old reshaping it,” she adds, “cutting out these traces in paper, layering them, like the city’s layers of history, memories of the city are encapsulated in fleeting shadows.” Renate Schwarz has sculptures titled Jars of Then and Now with clay and plastic taps that draw attention to water. The abundance of it in the lake that was once Kathmandu Valley, torrential rain, the glacial streams in the mountains. Water irrigated the Valley’s soil, making it fertile. Says Schwarz: “The transformation of the Kathmandu Valley has struck me ever since my first visit in 1984. What a mega tsunami of change has come over this valley … with my sculptures I express the delicate balance between water, clay and craftsmanship.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122804124_92e1b1a2b10f9fc3e91691989bf44302d9b1ce81c77b0187db2c9f0e3579667d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024122804124_92e1b1a2b10f9fc3e91691989bf44302d9b1ce81c77b0187db2c9f0e3579667d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="From Burning Rice Fields to Urban Growth"> <figcaption>Renate Schwarz's Jars of Then and Now</figcaption> </figure>  Nepali photographer Sagar Chhetri’s Brutality of Geometry explores the definition of land and how earth, soil, vegetation all become monetised commodities. The photographs depict the greed that drives the ecocide of hillsides by real estate ‘plotting’ on the Valley’s rim. The photos show maps of property, and Chhetri explains: “As an artist, I wish to respond to and investigate this geometry of brutality on the land in depth.” Sujan Dangol’s Mandala is a mixed media tribute to the original fertility of Kathmandu Valley with a collection of 54 types of grain, beans, and spices that used to grow here. He also collected bamboo, copper, glass, plastic, and steel utensils to represent the shift from an agricultural era to an industrial one. “The place which we call home—the Earth—is not only ours. Coexistence with animals, birds, plants, insects, water, and soil is essential for the well-being of our Ecosystem,” Dangol says.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122804124_058b88c5a00c1a8ab178b37a734cfb900eeb090d8e5602eb6469049e28300a98.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024122804124_058b88c5a00c1a8ab178b37a734cfb900eeb090d8e5602eb6469049e28300a98" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="From Burning Rice Fields to Urban Growth"> <figcaption>Sujan Dangol's Mandala</figcaption> </figure>  Sunita Maharjan’s Curtain of Change is stencil print on handmade cotton and depicts her hometown of Kirtipur, where the ancestral lands of her ancestors are now occupied by Tribhuvan University. “The continuous influx of students has altered the fabric of Kirtipur - both figuratively and literally,” Maharjan says. “In Curtain of Change I want to document and comment on the evolving identity of my hometown, where urbanisation, industrialisation, and educational migration intersect, leaving both visible and invisible marks on the community.” In Wild Bees in the Netherlands Maartje Smits uses letterpress prints on paper to show the &nbsp;sudden disappearance of honeybees in Europe, and how the artist decided to become a beekeeper, hoping it would help. But honeybees are competing for survival with wild bee species. “Just as with the Kathmandu Valley, the Dutch landscape has been hollowed out and built up.” She says. “Food and nesting places for flying pollinators are scarce, so trying to save one species can mean the demise of another.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122804124_16461120522a119da0966d714da5e20f67c123fccc8a029419dc344e5d6b35ea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024122804124_16461120522a119da0966d714da5e20f67c123fccc8a029419dc344e5d6b35ea" data-rendition-name="original" width="1658" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="From Burning Rice Fields to Urban Growth"> </figure>  NEDNEP3 2024/2026 From Burning Rice Fields to Urban Growth De Vishal, Haarlem (29 November-5 January) Kathmandu Triennale in Nepal (February 2026)

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Rice fields to concrete terraces

This year’s Miami Art Week brought high-profile openings and exhibitions with some exciting exhibitions and installations from South Asia and Nepal. The event was a dynamic mix of galleries, immersive installations and schedule packed with must-see art fairs, pop-ups, and cultural events with Art Basel taking centre stage.&nbsp; This was the 22nd edition of Art Basel and brought in 286 galleries from 38 countries, the largest contemporary art event in US with 75,000 visitors, collectors and art lovers.&nbsp; The Art Week has the NADA fair featuring the work of Nepali ceramic artist Shushank Shrestha, who had a whole booth by the French Gallery, Galerie Lefebvre &amp; Fils. Louis Lefebvre, director of the gallery had reached out to Shrestha last year after seeing photos of his graduating show in New York. &nbsp; A whole booth for a single artist is an honour, and it showcased Shrestha’s 14 brightly coloured ceramic figures that playfully explore mythical characters from Nepali culture and blends it with the artist’s fascination for super-heroes. The figures evoke a touch of humour, childhood memories of fun and family moments.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122508128_49675d8240747eaa76403605db7a0b6767952b0198ab565f65026e3dc9ec9870.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024122508128_49675d8240747eaa76403605db7a0b6767952b0198ab565f65026e3dc9ec9870" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali artist at Miami Art Week NT"> </figure>  Shrestha’s mastery in the techniques of ceramic making can be observed from the glazed gigantic, free-standing multi-coloured Garuda with extended wings that take centre stage. It has minute details providing an emotional connection to viewers familiar with Nepali culture.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/amalgamation-of-nepali-art">Amalgamation of Nepali art</a> The exhibition drew much attention from visitors, with many marveling at its attractive presentation and the artist’s ability to maneuver the flexible medium into imaginative characters through the coiling technique.&nbsp; The challenge of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/take-to-pottery-during-the-pandemic">ceramic making</a> is that the process from the start to the finish is delicate, the clay itself being sensitive to moisture when moulding and to heat when firing.&nbsp; Shrestha’s booth is a powerful reminder that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali artists have entered the world stage</a> following the footsteps of Lain Singh Bangdel, Siddhimuni Shakya, Lok Chitrakar, Mukti Singh Thapa, Udaya Charan Shrestha, Ang Tsherin Sherpa, Hitman Gurung, Koshal Hamal, Sneha Shrestha, and others.&nbsp; Shushank Shrestha is a Kathmandu-based artist and a graduate of New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He received his BFA from Kathmandu University School of Arts in 2016, and his work has been exhibited in Nepal, Pakistan, China, France, and the United States.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122508128_ebfae6a66c43872b968e76df82ca8189b93ca28a5ffe17e5c93ae295953b4ba4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024122508128_ebfae6a66c43872b968e76df82ca8189b93ca28a5ffe17e5c93ae295953b4ba4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali artist at Miami Art Week NT"> </figure>  Galerie Lefebvre &amp; Fils was founded by Henri Lefebvre in 1880 with an eclectic collection and has a legacy of exchanges with museum curators and ties with private collectors. In 2009, the gallery started to focus on contemporary ceramics, highlighting the renewing nature of the medium and its relevance to society.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-art-now-in-vienna">Nepal Art Now in Vienna</a> Another highlight of the art week was the Great Elephant Migration from India. The installation on Miami’s South Beach featured a hundred life size elephants from the <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/mab/nilgiri">Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve</a> in South India. The individual elephants were all hand crafted by <a href="https://www.therealelephant.com/coexsistence-collective">Coexistence Collective</a>, a group of 200 local indigenous artisans and designed by <a href="https://www.shubhranayar.com/">Shubhra Nayar</a>.&nbsp; The elephants are made from an invasive weed that crowds out other native species and reduces biodiversity threatening to overtake the natural habitat of Indian elephants. The project also provides sustainable income for the local community through 20 villages with workshops that make the elephants.&nbsp; Ashish Kapoor, a London-based Indian artist, sucks viewers into a vertiginous concavity that confound our perception. &nbsp;Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan American multi-disciplinary artist presents culturally specific and transnational presentations of contemporary realities, while offering new models for a radically changed future informed by feminism, Afrofuturism, and interspecies symbiosis.&nbsp; Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha is curator at the Nepal Art Council.&nbsp;

Nepali artist at Miami Art Week

Things are getting a little surreal in the Subcontinent. The erosion of regionalism is making South Asia an abstract concept. Which is perhaps what makes a new exhibition of expressionist art in Kathmandu so emblematic. Glimpses of the Mind: Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism in South Asian Art’ at The Kalā Salon in Thamel showcases a selection of outstanding surreal and abstract expressionist works by Nepali and Sri Lankan artists.&nbsp; “What you see is that painters from Nepal started exploring new impressionistic styles later in their careers, often after going abroad, especially to Europe,” says archivist-curator of the gallery, Chakshita Rana. Walking past paintings in the Glimpses of the Mind exhibition is like taking a series of Rorschach Tests. Stare at a painting long enough and the deep recesses of the mind stare back, the canvas morphs into hearts, trees, mountains, and wide-eyed, worried faces. The paintings are from the vast art collection of Pratima and Prithvi Pandé and the exhibition includes works by Nepali artists Jeevan Rajopadhyaya, Uttam Nepali, Sunil Sigdel, Manuj Babu Mishra, Ram KC, Kiran Manandhar, Sunita Rana, Shyam Lal Shrestha, Birendra Pratap Singh, Surendra Pradhan as well as Manoranjana Herath from Sri Lanka.&nbsp; While the paintings may not represent objective reality, they convey the murkier and more confusing parts of the universe and the mind. One painting shows a person in a yellow suit jumping over a cow with a purple mask, amidst a backdrop of a dark blue starry sky with a dark sun.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120612124_5a1945393bb3f542153421ae45cb350d48de0735605c973ebb8fae10b1490b48.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120612124_5a1945393bb3f542153421ae45cb350d48de0735605c973ebb8fae10b1490b48" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="South Asia in the abstract"> </figure>  This is one in the Surrealism category, an art movement that began a century ago largely out of Freud’s writings on dreams and the unconscious mind. Surrealist paintings feature real objects, often combined seemingly illogically with other bizarrely drawn objects. &nbsp; One of the most recognisable in this style is Salvador Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ with its iconic melting clocks. Indeed, one of the dreamlike pieces by Sunil Sigdel also has a clock in the background, although the primary focus is on two bald figures waist-deep in either muddy water or quicksand. One is blue with orange lips and the other is orange with blue lips, and both look quite distressed. Through its absurdity, surrealism made it okay to challenge the rigid notions regarding reality and of what art should be. Abstract Expressionism then came through in the 1940s and 50s, still featuring themes of the subconscious. But this style did away with any forms at all, and instead focused on spontaneity and emotion. “Paintings in these styles are expressive and individualistic,” explains The Kalā Salon founder Sophia L Pande. “The artist’s voice really jumps out, and they are often making a very personal or political statement.”&nbsp; Impressionistic paintings leave much more to the imagination of the viewer, although it is easier to guess what the artist has in mind in some paintings, more than others. One dark blue canvas by Uttam Nepali could be a skull, an alien or a dog. Another of Nepali’s paintings has shades of green, brown and orange that could be a tree, or an intense fire. The form is not as important here to interpret the work — more relevant is mood and choice of colour.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120612124_4cbc05a47715e173fa5c85cef7a3a37141dda2c7494264e83b2bba9dac334b8d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120612124_4cbc05a47715e173fa5c85cef7a3a37141dda2c7494264e83b2bba9dac334b8d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="South Asia in the abstract"> </figure>  Kiran Manandhar’s paintings have his distinctive quick dry brushstrokes in vivid colours, and are all arranged in a row at the exhibition. Explains curator Rana: “We decided to put his paintings next to each other so that the evolution of his work stands out.”&nbsp; The paintings by Manoranjana Herath from Sri Lanka feature sharp geometric shapes, with lots of triangles and faces in green and blue — reminiscent of Picasso-esque cubism. The Kalā Salon is showing a larger exhibition of Herath’s work starting 13 December.&nbsp; “We are primarily a non-profit, and because of the depth of the collection we can regularly show works of many different Nepali artists, spanning a lot of genres and time periods,” says Pande. “Most exhibitions feature the work of only one artist, at one time in their lives. We hope to be a valuable resource and inspire new Nepali artists.” The gallery also sponsors three-month long residencies for promising artists twice a year. One male artist and one female are chosen, often self-taught or fresh out of a Bachelor's in Fine Arts. &nbsp;At the end, a show of their work is held at the Salon. Three such rounds have been held so far, and the first cohort for 2025 has already been selected.&nbsp; Says Pande, “We are committed to giving these talented young artists a start and exposure in art, and a chance to become immediately self-sustaining.” The Kalā Salon&nbsp; Chhaya Center Mall, Aloft Hotel 11am-8pm&nbsp; Till 10 December

Vishad Raj Onta

South Asia in the abstract

At the age of five, Dorjee Karmarong fell sick and his local healer-slash-thangka painter cut him a deal: in exchange for treatment, the young patient had to promise to become a painter. The shaman may have been joking, but 38 years later, Karmarong is a successful international artist, and now has a solo exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery. ‘Karmarong: Hidden Valley in the Himalayas’ is a collection of 27 paintings spread across two floors that give the viewer a comprehensive feel for life among the Karmarong community in the remote Mugu district of Karnali. Karmarong has a distinctive style featuring clean outlines, vibrant colours and detailed natural landscapes. Animals, mountains, trees, and the sun and the moon appear constantly. It is a style that took 20 years to perfect, as the painter practised teaching in monasteries of Bangladesh, India, Singapore, and most recently in Vietnam. Mugu is one of the remotest districts in Nepal, but the Karmarong community of about 3,000 people live in about a dozen small villages in the remotest northern corner of the district near the Chinese border. They speak their own dialect. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-present-meets-the-past">The present meets the past</a>, Pinki Sris Rana  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_46339bbefd7b9007dedde289f8c4db9980a60e19ab5a7e0c11c5f1ba4817ba68.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241004111032_46339bbefd7b9007dedde289f8c4db9980a60e19ab5a7e0c11c5f1ba4817ba68" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT 1"></figure>  Some of the paintings show general goings-on in Karmarong, such as harvest time. ‘The Hospitality of Karmarong’ shows residents gathering to formally welcome an important guest. “In front is someone who is still lucky to have both parents,” explains the painter. ‘Magic of Milarepa’ is a closeup of a grey, cracked yak horn on the floor. There is water on the ground next to the horn, and inside is a green-skinned monk, meditating in robes. “Milarepa was travelling with one of his students in Tibet, who was starting to act a little arrogant. They were suddenly caught up in a storm, and the saint shrank himself and sheltered in the horn, humbling his disciple,” Karmarong explains. Yaks are a constant feature in the exhibition, and the painter Karmarong has given them sentient eyes, with emotions like anger, introspection, suspicion, and even wide-eyed and crazed. “I was once told to study as voraciously as a yak grazes,” says Karmarong. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/human-spiritual-existence-in-a-digital-ecosystem">Human spiritual existence in a digital ecosystem</a>, Kashish Das Shrestha  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_271aba25a6f1eb642433ef504880407a9b36fea72a85e793a6d70e12299d9274.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241004111032_271aba25a6f1eb642433ef504880407a9b36fea72a85e793a6d70e12299d9274" data-rendition-name="original" width="2400" height="3600" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT 1"></figure>  In the middle of ‘The Dance of the Elements’ is a face that is half yellow and half black holding a cigarette around which is coiled a multi-headed serpent. “Thia represents our animal impulses,” Karmarong explains. “It is about how nature makes beautiful things. But when humans tamper with it, something usually goes wrong.” Other pieces are even more abstract. ‘Mandala Fragment’ shows geometric shapes in vibrant colours. Says Karmarong: “It may seem chaotic to a viewer, but I can step back and see something different.” Behind Karmarong’s extraordinary skill and output is a rare life lived in harmony with fate. Even his birth was auspicious: Karmarong was born in a cave to parents returning from working in Himachal Pradesh in India on the eve of Buddha Purnima and Thursday. By age seven Karmarong’s father took him to a cave to learn Tibetan. At 13, the boy was sent to a monastery in Kathmandu and after six years he decided to pursue painting and became an apprentice to master thangka artist Palden. Karmarong trained intensively under the rigid rules of thangka painting. He then met Tenzin Norbu from Dolpo, who helped develop his spiritual connection to art. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/turning-legends-into-games">Turning legends into games</a>, Vishad Raj Onta  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241004111032_3f2d5f809a4230bbee885a2832c2e6872b743343581a96d177fae87885759d76.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241004111032_3f2d5f809a4230bbee885a2832c2e6872b743343581a96d177fae87885759d76" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1412" loading="lazy" alt="Dorjee Karmarong NT"></figure>  As Karmarong developed artistically and spiritually, he saw art as a fulfilment of his karma. “I started feeling that, in a past life, I had been a yogi who had wanted to build a monastery but couldn’t find an artist,” he says. The yogi committed to a life of dharma to be reborn as an artist. Indeed, there are records of a yogi from Karmarong region named Jimpa Therchan, who struggled with building a monastery and was also a renowned poet and singer. Karmarong also sings, and has written ‘Turquoise Mountain: A Folktale of the Karmarong.’ The titles of the paintings are evocative: ‘Yak’s Reprieve’, ‘Echoes of the Sacred Route’, ‘The Black Yak’s Grace’, or 'The Yak and His Young Keeper.' He is also a YouTuber and his channel has singing performances, rap songs and travel vlogs. Karmarong has depicted his village as a religious, harmonious Shangri-La, although it leaves the viewer a little curious about the darker realities of the place like Milarepa’s own murky past. Karmarong has perhaps consciously or unconsciously woven his own life into the paintings: stories and destinies that translate into the real world. They show travellers leaving from or returning to Karmarong the place, or going on a pilgrimage, reflecting the artist’s own artistic, spiritual and religious journey that has taken him back to his roots. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/mask">MASK</a>, Sonia Awale ‘Karmarong: Hidden Valley in the Himalayas’ Dorjee Karmarong Siddhartha Art Gallery

Karmarong in Karmarong

The Nepali art scene is seeing a surge of interest in performance art. However, it is not a novelty because of its origins in the blend of painting, theatre, and poetry. Interdisciplinary artists like Jivan Acharya, Ashmina Ranjit, <a href="https://salil.blog/music-portfolio/">Salil Subedi</a>, and Mahima Singh have used blended art forms to draw attention to socio-political issues such as state violence, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-struggles-to-balance-nature-and-industry">exploitation of natural resources</a>, and gender inequality. In 2014, Amrit Karki, a fine arts student at Kathmandu University, put together a 13-minute showpiece Fire and Ice at the Taragaon Museum in which he cut off locks of his hair and burnt them on a singing bowl in a visceral depiction of personal attachment and abandonment. “At the time, I was researching and exploring different trends in contemporary art. I was deeply struck by <a href="https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/11412">Francis Alÿs and his ‘When Faith Moves Mountains’ </a>and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/sep/25/marina-abramovics-shocking-rhythm-0-performance-shows-why-we-still-cannot-trust-people-in-power">Marina Abramović and her ‘Rhythm Zero’.</a> I realised that art could move beyond the confines of a painting,” explains Karki. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-karnali-on-canvas">The Karnali on canvas</a>, Sewa Bhattarai Over the years, Pokhara native Karki has continued to explore this idea further. In his fifth performance art titled<a href="https://www.amritkarki.com.np/2023/03/blog-post.html"> Breathing Through the Stillness</a> in 2022, Karki stood still for more than four hours as masons constructed a brick wall around his body.&nbsp; The audience stood and watched as the bricklayers mixed cement, measured the alignments of the bricks, and stacked the bricks. In the end, the newly-constructed brick wall fell behind Karki as he walked out. Karki’s latest work ‘What You Have Given Me, I Set Free Forever’ at the Nepal Art Council last week was a part of the Rubin Museum’s exhibition ‘Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now’, and Abramović was one of the co-curators. <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/marina-abramovi">Abramović</a>, a Serbian conceptual and performance artist, is famous for probing the relationship between performer and audience along with experimentation of endurance art. Karki’s new work, unsurprisingly, has the audience actively participating in the making of art. The room was warm and stuffy, there was no ventilation in the wide, white-walled room. In the middle was a skeletal dome-like structure made of copper arcs that converged to form a space for an upside down receptacle.&nbsp; A giant copper water storage drum nearby contained dyed water maintained at room temperature. It was colourless the first day, yellow the second, green the third, blue the fourth and then finally red. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal's new generation of alternative artists</a>, Ashish Dhakal From 12PM to 6PM every day for the duration of the performance, Karki wore a white shirt and pants and sat on a raised copper pedestal and a white cushion just below the receptacle which had a hole on its tip.&nbsp; The audience could take a jug of water from the drum and fill the receptacle so that a steady stream of dyed water poured on Karki’s head, cascading down his body, and staining his white shirt and pants. The deliberate choice of the dye colours mimicked the pattern of<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lets-only-buy-bio-degradable-prayer-flags"> prayer flags</a> which in turn symbolises the five elements: air, space, fire, water, and earth. The artist's statement that how “viewers will witness the gradual accumulation of everything the artist has accepted from them and set free forever” suggests the influence of the Buddhist philosophy of letting go of earthly burdens and belongings.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240925110928_90381a95c139fa3a9e0f92a9dcbbf2592bcba5eb337521d69c29a561502e1aa9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240925110928_90381a95c139fa3a9e0f92a9dcbbf2592bcba5eb337521d69c29a561502e1aa9" data-rendition-name="original" width="5137" height="3425" loading="lazy" alt="Amrit Karki's performance art "> <figcaption>Photo: Sumit Dangol</figcaption> </figure>  “Having the chance to discuss my performance art with her was a grateful experience. Even a small comment from her helped illuminate the impact of my performance art,” says Karki of Abramović who has been a constant inspiration for the artist. Karki often embraced himself. His right arm caresses his left shoulder, rubbing it, and after six hours of sitting still under the stream of water, his body looks stiff and tense.&nbsp; His chest area and the cushion on which he sat was stained dark green. His long hair had been tied into a bun which the stream of water hit. If no one filled the receptacle, Karki’s shirt would remain unstained.&nbsp; While the performance does nudge viewers to pour the water on the receptacle as a “visual reminder of the things that daily pollute and burden the mind”, the act of doing so also raises a moral question: how fair is it for someone to hand over one’s burdens onto others? Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/all-the-world-is-a-stage-in-kathmandu">All the world is a stage in Kathmandu</a>, Sewa Bhattarai&nbsp; The interval between visitors felt empty, everyone in the room waited with bated breath as Karki stared ahead, his eyes vacant, but they were also periods of respite.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240925110928_c5f06447c7553f0e104ccb05423ea2e62cfb2fda21d5b935ac01b22a19f9b7b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240925110928_c5f06447c7553f0e104ccb05423ea2e62cfb2fda21d5b935ac01b22a19f9b7b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="4821" height="3214" loading="lazy" alt="Amrit Karki's performance art"> <figcaption>Photo: Kripa Shakya</figcaption> </figure>  Sitting still for six hours a day while a stream of water is poured on top of your head must test the limits of human endurance. At one point, Karki raised his right foot and rested it gently on top of his left foot. The soles of his feet were also lightly stained green. “The extent and impact of audience participation depends upon the idea and concept of the creators but it is when audiences are allowed to participate that the performance art becomes stronger,” says Karki. “On the last day, the receptacle was almost always filled through the day. The more people felt connected with my performance, the more they participated.”

Performing art that sets us free

Wise and wrinkled grandmothers dressed in vividly patterned dresses lounge elegantly against Mughal backdrops, and are attended to by young women, lovers, and deities. The paintings depict traditional grandmoms in non-traditional settings, and Muna Bhadel in her ongoing exhibition Silent Whispers at Siddhartha Art Gallery forces us to do a double take.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240822120812_e941c14b423047b56a14cc8e4a20eae1005c99325c5a05532922ca8aa2178877.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240822120812_e941c14b423047b56a14cc8e4a20eae1005c99325c5a05532922ca8aa2178877" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Muna Bhadel NT"> </figure>  Bhadel, a recipient of the 2022 <a href="https://www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au/">Australian Himalayan Foundation </a>Art Award, explains: ‘This series is a tapestry woven with threads of emotional bonds, captures the poignant experiences of grandmothers as I have felt them. Their journeys through time are uniquely their own.’ In a painting titled Mute Melodies, an elderly woman reclines on a pillow with her hair down, frowning into the distance while surrounded by three young women. One fans her face, another presents her with a box of jewelry, and the third anoints her feet in a ‘sora singar’ wedding ceremony representing a bride’s transformation from girl to wife.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240822110840_e78e786aca3447be1b6583acc3ef6c26bf55befbacc4abf1b8fca4aa967578d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240822110840_e78e786aca3447be1b6583acc3ef6c26bf55befbacc4abf1b8fca4aa967578d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2676" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="Mute Melodies by Mona Bhadel NT 2"> </figure>  The juxtaposition of the grandmother’s wrinkled face and veined arms with the smooth-skinned attendants painted like a fantastical Mughal mural, is a recurrent motif in Bhadel’s exhibition. The paintings contrast images of youth and age, and explore the longing and unfulfilled dreams and the imagery blends memories with dreams of what look like nautch girls. Bhadel trained at the Lalitkala Academy of Fine Art, then joined the MFA program at Tribhuvan University while doing a residency at Taragaon Museum. Her works were also exhibited at the Himalayan Art Festival in 2022 and the Dalai-La gallery in 2023. The 2023 exhibition titled 'Co-Relation Between Us' featured subjects dressed in vibrant textiles, and she has carried this style to Silent Whispers as well. A painting titled Uncharted Desires features reclining woman clad in a dhaka-patterned cholo, a golden shawl, and a flowery black gunyo, while a turbaned young man combs her hair.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240822110844_fd5e920221af3d2613059a2e673aa1308c0eb78c601ddda661956b24f263ad52.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240822110844_fd5e920221af3d2613059a2e673aa1308c0eb78c601ddda661956b24f263ad52" data-rendition-name="original" width="2676" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="Uncharted Desires by Mona Bhadel NT 3"> </figure>  Many of the women in this series feature elderly women seemingly reminiscing romance, perhaps experiences or fantasies they had when younger. Sometimes, there is a doting man in attendance.&nbsp; Bhadel wants to leave a lot to the viewers’ imagination, and so as not to give it all away, just says, “This is how I imagined they would like to be with their past companions.”&nbsp; Most of the paintings at the exhibition are acrylic on canvas, but some are done in coloured pencils on the walls, perhaps studies or sketches before working on her final pieces. The drawings show two hands, one often visibly aged, and the other smooth and young.&nbsp; “These represent memories of my grandmother and how we are connected despite our difference in age,” says Bhadel. “It reminds me of a time when she pinched the skin on her hand and then the skin on mine.”&nbsp; Perhaps some of Bhadel’s reflections on the passage of time comes from the recent birth of her child, and the passing of her grandmothers who lived simple lives, nurturing their families, yet trapped by duty and society. While the women have aged physically in the paintings, their minds and spirits burn brightly and full of life in Bhadel’s works.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240822110848_a31931b41dbb24cbe9db3da768788613d13d560a855a58a99b5a40f5185e6e17.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240822110848_a31931b41dbb24cbe9db3da768788613d13d560a855a58a99b5a40f5185e6e17" data-rendition-name="original" width="2129" height="3576" loading="lazy" alt="Custodian of Fate by Mona Bhadel NT 4"> </figure>  These bittersweet emotions are expressed in colours that are either bright and saturated, or dull and subdued, but both enveloped in warm vermillion. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/artistic-prayer-for-our-common-future">Artistic prayer for our common future</a>, Pinki Sris Rana Explains Sangeeta Thapa of Siddhartha Art Gallery: ‘Muna Bhadel’s paintings are an observation about the cycle of life -- of birth and death, youth with all its beauty and seductions, and about loss, ageing, nostalgia, and isolation.’ Silent Whispers Paintings by MunaBhadel Siddhartha Art Galley Baber Mahal Revisited 18 August – 18 September Kathmandu Triennale 2026 Although it is still almost two years away, the organisers of the Kathmandu Triennale are not waiting till the last moment to start preparations. Siddharth Art Gallery and Nepal Academy of Fine Arts are poised to unfurl a vibrant canvas in February 2026 with the theme ‘Coexistence, Kinship and Care’.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024082212080_376592b1d0ce331e80f65820ea891b99d7e4b2bcdca9c51951f7eee9777965e5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024082212080_376592b1d0ce331e80f65820ea891b99d7e4b2bcdca9c51951f7eee9777965e5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="992" loading="lazy" alt="Triennale Siddhartha Art Gallery 2026 NT"> </figure>  Kathmandu will host a kaleidoscope of creativity, with shows at venues like the Siddhartha Art Galley, Patan Museum and Nepal Art Council. The triennale will be curated by Australian artist Natalie King and Sujan Chitrakar of the Kathmandu University School of Art, and will feature at least 40 Nepali and international artists.&nbsp; Outgoing Australian Ambassador Felicity Volk spoke at the event announcing the Triennale, saying: “In a world fragmented by politics, war, and geopolitical tensions, we seek unity—a shared canvas where we weave threads of solidarity and harmony.”&nbsp;

The unbearable lightness of being old

Gregor Samsa wakes up from his bed one day and realises he has changed into an insect. This is the opening act of Franz Kafka’s novella ‘The Metamorphosis’. Gregor now has to navigate his life as an insect and he sees a change in how the world including his family views him and alternatively, him the world and himself. One of the opening paintings of Hannah Grace’s solo exhibition has amoeba-like patterns in vibrant colours. Upon closer look, viewers find a grasshopper in the right corner. The grasshopper is a misfit and yet seems to belong there. Grace tells us she sees herself as the grasshopper navigating a symmetric world. Kafka’s Gregor metamorphosing into a bug symbolises his alienation from society resulting from the exploitation he faced all his life. Grace’s paintings, on the other hand explore <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-struggles-to-balance-nature-and-industry">human exploitation of the natural </a>world, to a point where both are in irreversible decline.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/a-nation-built-on-sand">A nation built on sand</a>, Ramesh Kumar In her ‘Where My Home and Allegiance Lie’ exhibition at Takpa Gallery, Grace brings California’s Napa Valley to Kathmandu through depictions of living organisms in vivid detail. The artworks are precise, albeit repetitive, and create a “sense of buzz” like she experienced as a dyslexic child.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024081412088_70087676d9e0d3a2c938653662aaeb5a1f8c874b46a6bb33a01d37408893fbc1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024081412088_70087676d9e0d3a2c938653662aaeb5a1f8c874b46a6bb33a01d37408893fbc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="3106" height="2337" loading="lazy" alt="Where My Home and Allegiance Lies NT "> </figure>  Growing up in the Grace Family Vineyards founded by her grandparent Dick Grace, she learned early on about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/families-that-farm-together-stay-together">sustainable agriculture</a> and practiced “compassionate animal husbandry” from her parents. This upbringing later turned into passion as she pursued environmental science in college. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason Even then, something was missing, and Grace decided to take on studio art. “Science helps me understand where I fit in the world and art helps me explore and showcase the interaction I have with nature,” the 25-year-old artist told us. Interestingly, in a painting titled ‘A Place Called Home’, Grace puts together a diagram of an ecosystem which has an uncanny resemblance to a mandala, like the ones in<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/remembering-nepals-lost-and-the-found"> Buddhist artworks</a>.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240814110824_044b06bc590dcd8b2abf406ea2711b8a267a29c3bd9683f48fe34d6577e1cdd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240814110824_044b06bc590dcd8b2abf406ea2711b8a267a29c3bd9683f48fe34d6577e1cdd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2872" height="2831" loading="lazy" alt="Where My Home and Allegiance Lies NT 3"> </figure>  “Buddhist paintings were part of my childhood. It felt natural to do that,” says Grace as she talks about how her grandparents who frequent Nepal to support <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/changing-disability-to-this-ability">disabled children</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-women-flee-abuse-for-overseas-work">abuse survivours</a>, and children with cancer had Mandala paintings on their walls.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-mandal-in-manhattan">Nepal Mandal in Manhattan</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit “For me, the circular expression of the mandala represents the cyclic life of the ecosystem,” she adds. In 2016, Grace came to Nepal herself and volunteered in a monastery, teaching English, mathematics and art to the young monks. Eight years later, Nepal is also where she chose to exhibit her art for the first time as a professional.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240814120816_5f3ac03dd3dbf33b0aecc2837ea24fe7eb02a0585d9519d8b8d2343aeb6f3196.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240814120816_5f3ac03dd3dbf33b0aecc2837ea24fe7eb02a0585d9519d8b8d2343aeb6f3196" data-rendition-name="original" width="5689" height="4271" loading="lazy" alt="Where My Home and Allegiance Lies NT 4"> </figure>  Most of the paintings here are acrylic, but Grace has experimented with different techniques for unique texture and feel. In ‘Fantom Flowers’, she used her fingers to paint the background, while for ‘Rainbow Trout and the Rainbow’ and ‘Salmonberry Thorn’, she used beads. “I have always liked mixing and matching colours, and trying out different tools which give me different sensory inputs. It is exciting and calming at the same time,” says Grace of her methods.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240814120816_babb538f7136ded1ccf44b09e99910ca6743d2aa07513c5422f66f5720cfd94b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240814120816_babb538f7136ded1ccf44b09e99910ca6743d2aa07513c5422f66f5720cfd94b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2627" height="3318" loading="lazy" alt="Where My Home and Allegiance Lies NT 5"> </figure>  All 15 artworks at the exhibit are bright, colourful and vibrant even as the artist is trying to portray a grim future brought on by anthropogenic ‘development’ and ‘progress’. Grace says it is a strategic move. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vibrant-mithila-art-thrives-in-nepal">Vibrant Mithila art thrives in Nepal</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240814120828_4f1d75cc31b5117a397bfee3cc975345a08a1ceef398f335caa68a2de8a40c95.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20240814120828_4f1d75cc31b5117a397bfee3cc975345a08a1ceef398f335caa68a2de8a40c95" data-rendition-name="original" width="451" height="638" loading="lazy" alt="Where My Home and Allegiance Lies NT 6"> </figure>  She adds, “This is a prayer for the future. I want to remind people of all the beautiful things that exist simultaneously with us in nature and do our part in preserving them.” Where My Home and Allegiance Lies 11AM-7PM (Fridays to Sundays) 11AM-6PM &nbsp;(Tuesdays to Thursdays) Till 25 August&nbsp; Takpa Gallery&nbsp;

Pinki Sris Rana

Artistic prayer for our common future

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/alternative-lifestyle-alternative-art">The Kalā Salon at the Chhaya Centre</a> in Thamel is now four shows old, and currently is running an exhibition of paintings by South Asian artists of the elephant-headed deity, Ganesh.
Also known as Binayak, Ganesh is worshipped as a remover of obstacles and is honoured before starting new ventures.
Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-boy-gods-of-kathmandu,4158">The boy gods of Kathmandu</a>, Sahina Shrestha
Titled ‘Hamsadhwani: Depictions of Ganesha’, the exhibit showcases paintings from the private collection of the Pratima and Prithvi Pandé family. It is curated by Chakshita R who is also the archivist of the gallery.&nbsp;
“My parents have always supported the arts in Nepal, often sponsoring artists and musicians,” says Sophia L Pandé, founding director of The Kalā Salon. The Gallery is continuing this support, sponsoring residencies for two artists a year, one male and one female under the age of 30.&nbsp;
Some of the paintings depict Ganesh traditionally with his official vehicle, the mouse, and laddoos, while others show the God more abstractly.
“The title "Hamsadhwani," referring to a serene raga in Hindustani classical music, reflects the many ways in which Ganesha is celebrated and worshipped, across disciplines,” writes Chakshita R in her introduction to the exhibit.&nbsp;
The paintings are in the second, attic-like floor of the gallery, a rectangular space where every painting can be seen from anywhere in the room.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/deity-devotion-and-divine-dance">Deity, devotion, and divine dance</a>, Vishad Raj Onta
A painting by Daya Ram Palpali shows Ganesh as he may be seen in a temple around Kathmandu: lights are lit, bells are hanging, and the statue is golden and garlanded. The entire picture is in warm colors that make sections of green leaves stand out. Batsa Gopal Vaidya paints a blue Ganesh dancing on a background of green hills, mountains and a red sky. The tusks and the outlines of the mountains are done in a reflective silver underlay on the paint.&nbsp;
A series of three paintings by Shankar Raj Singh Suwal show Ganesh in a celestial, heavenly form, engulfed in murky clouds.One of the three shows him with blue-skin just like his father, Shiva.
Suwal paints a winged mouse, perhaps pointing out the irony of an elephant-headed God riding around on a rodent. &nbsp;
Then there are two prints by Seema Sharma Shah: of a temple glowing gold and a Ganesh standing up in a reddish-orange lotus with blue bells hanging above him.
“These are very sophisticated to make, and need to be etched out on metal first, and then treated with acid to create places for the paint to go into. Then they are printed layer by layer, blue first, then red, and then black,” explains Chakshita R.&nbsp;
Real also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/in-the-realm-of-the-gods">In the realm of the gods</a>, Pinki Sris Rana
S C Suman’s work is influenced by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vibrant-mithila-art-thrives-in-nepal">Mithila art </a>and his piece looks like a pen drawing on a background of red, yellow and orange. The outline is then filled in concentrically, and some parts look like fingerprints.&nbsp;
One abstract Ganesh, by Kiran Manandhar looks like it was finished in a hurry. Another in black and white uses stippling to create illusions of light and shadow. Yet another one shows a Ganesh with his usual gadgets and mouse but also with tattoos and posture that makes him look feminine. The mouse is smiling at him from below.&nbsp;
Another Ganesh signed ‘Jizza’ features a cartoony, round Ganesh with a peacock feather on his head and ornaments in gold and weapons in silver, apparently a style found in South India.&nbsp;
Going clockwise around the room, the depictions of Ganesh get more and more abstract and humanlike. This culminates in a series of prints by noted Indian painter M F Hussein where the deity is drawn with animals such as an elephant, a bird, a horse and a bull.&nbsp;
The paintings are often in a single primary colour, with Ganesh as a fighter, a dancer and a toddler, just hanging out drinking water, or in a hammock.
“All these paintings were collected by my parents, who never acquired paintings for their name but only if they liked them,” says Sophia Pandé about the exhibition. “The Kalā Salon is a non-profit space for artists to see works by Nepali masters collected over the past 40 years, as well as a place to support current Nepali talent.” &nbsp;&nbsp;
Hamsadhwani: Depictions of Ganesha
The Kala Salon
Chhaya Centre, Thamel
11AM-6PM, until 10 August

A gallery full of Ganeshes

In the middle of the first floor of the Rasa Lila exhibition at the Nepal Art Council is a model of Patan’s Krishna Temple made of Jenga blocks (pictured above). Inside the temple is a red holographic Radha, dancing. The temple here represents Vraja, a realm that lies far away from the universe in the heights of paradise. This mystical place is the setting of the Rasa Lila: a long lyric poem in the 10th book of the Bhagavata Purana that describes Krishna’s circular dance of love with his female devotees. So the choice of material makes sense: Vraja, much like buildings made out of Jenga, is more an impermanent zone where players dance with focus and balance.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/my-sweet-lord"> My Sweet Lord</a>, Sewa Bhattarai Rasa Lila is put together by Priyam Pradhan and team and is made up of various media, including paintings, sculptures, songs, and films.&nbsp; The exhibit spans two floors of the Bagmati Art Gallery atop the Nepal Art Council in Baber Mahal. The first floor is about the Rasa Lila (Rasa: divine dance, Lila: divine play). The start of the exhibit plays with the story of Shiva being stopped from entering the Rasa Lila, because he is nine feet tall and not a woman. So he takes a dip into the Yamuna River and emerges a beautiful lass ready to take part.&nbsp; Referring to this story is Gopeshwar Mahadev, a sculpture made out of concrete hands and feet joined by rods of carbon steel. The pre-dip hands are masculine, and the post-dip feet, adorned with ghungroo beads, are feminine.&nbsp; Next is a river of letters that represents the Yamuna River and contains the initials of the team who worked on the project. Explains Pradhan: “I want visitors to the exhibit to feel like Mahadev, crossing the river into Vraja." A description reads, "The Yamuna is a bridge spanning the celestial and physical realms, and bathing in its waters is the final act after which the Gopis return to everyday life." Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/swasthani-lecture">Swasthani lecture</a> Next to this piece are two large wiry structures of Gopis in dance. They have black metal rod skeletons and wire bodies: one red, and one yellow.&nbsp; Inside an alcove in the gallery is a five minute film on loop titled ‘There is no perfection, only life’ made by Urza Acharya. It depicts the life of a Gopi after participating in the Rasa Lila. She is initially struck by depression and lethargy, but slowly finds the motivation to dance and be creative again.&nbsp; The short movie describes the fleeting nature of transcendental moments of pure creativity, and how most other moments are boring and mundane. Reads the description: ‘The banality of everyday, in fact, is what fuels those exceptional moments.’ &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024072812074_21e2b50f2ac9f7a30a596f110d957ede1f9569e59c716688bf63b6befcb01447.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024072812074_21e2b50f2ac9f7a30a596f110d957ede1f9569e59c716688bf63b6befcb01447" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Vastraharan NT"> <figcaption>'Vastraharana,' a scene from the Mahabharata where the Pandavas gamble away Draupadi's honor </figcaption> </figure>  While the first floor was about the Rasa Lila, the second floor depicts scenes from the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/being-good-is-not-easy">Mahabharata</a>, especially ones where Krishna features heavily. Vastraharan (pictured above) is a striking piece of a female figure in a white dress in the middle of a gambling board. Rectangular dice lie on the board and instead of a head the sculpture has a red light. The story depicted is from the Mahabharata of a game of chance between the Pandavas and the Kauravas where Duryodhana cheats the Pandavas out of all that they have, to the point where Yudhishthira puts up the Pandavas' wife Draupadi, promptly losing her too.&nbsp; Duryodhana orders his Kaurava brother to disrobe Draupadi in the court, and although the game has clearly gone too far, nobody in the court, not even Bhishma and Drona, intervene. The clear identical masks represent their shared passivity.&nbsp; As her sari is being unravelled, Draupadi has no other option but to pray to Krishna, who saves her by extending her sari infintiely. Yet she is still ashamed and angry, represented by the red light.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-violence-of-violation">The violence of violation</a>, Sewa Bhattarai In the next room is a blue angular metal sculpture of Krishna waking up on a bed of coins.&nbsp; “Coins represent Lakshmi, who is present wherever Krishna is,” explains Pradhan. “To make the sculpture we first 3-D printed a mould, then laser cut metal sheets and welded them together.” The last piece in the exhibit is a large painting of Krishna’s mother Devaki, a divine, pure figure who kept giving birth to divine incarnations even when locked up in a dark murky jail by her brother Kansa.&nbsp; The exhibition follows a cohesive theme overall and is well timed for the upcoming Krishnashtami festival which this year falls on 27 August. &nbsp; Rasa Lila Nepal Art Council Baber Mahal 10AM-5PM, until 3 August

Deity, devotion, and divine dance

The ongoing Deities of Nepal II exhibition at Nepal Art Council coincided this week with the Conference on the Restitution of Heritage where questions were raised about whether it is appropriate to charge a fee to look at gods in glass cases in museums and galleries. The answer from some experts was that a statue of a deity is a work of art until it is consecrated in a temple, after which it attains a divine status worthy of worship. Only 149 of the tens of thousands of sacred objects stolen from Nepal have been returned.&nbsp; Early guidebooks on Nepal used to say that there were more gods than people and more temples than houses in Kathmandu Valley. That probably has not been true for a long time, but the Deities of Nepal II exhibition tries to do justice to the sheer diversity in the Hindu-Buddhist faith that has enriched Nepal’s art and culture. Much like there are gods and goddesses in every alley corner in Kathmandu Valley, the exhibition’s maze of grey-white corridors lead us to various depictions of deities in sculpture, paubha, painting and carvings. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-godhead-of-pharping">The godhead of Pharping</a>, Alisha Sijapati  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_18279b8c0f3396953295dfab001c57cbf672532e0641e8deb670033caedbac63.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240527200524_18279b8c0f3396953295dfab001c57cbf672532e0641e8deb670033caedbac63" data-rendition-name="original" width="1625" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_cf028a19ae4d2fb54dbc14707ea55d41c74f89c155e52d2c43a15c64d2f27abb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240527200524_cf028a19ae4d2fb54dbc14707ea55d41c74f89c155e52d2c43a15c64d2f27abb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1438" height="1108" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> </figure>  In the middle of the exhibit is an intricately crafted wooden temple with a bronze Ganesh at the centre. On both sides are wooden pillars with bells, and there is space to circumambulate as if it were a real shrine. Nepal Art Council’s Sagar SJB Rana explains that the exhibition’s design was a deliberate attempt to recreate Kathmandu’s sacred urbanscape in a gallery setting. He adds, “We are trying to look at art galleries beyond the maths of the selling and buying of arts, to have an exhibition that is new, innovative as well as having an educational element.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-house-of-chitrakars">The house of Chitrakars</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_ca458b71917eb6517233ccd081355e9375714ff174d909aa85aad3097f3b0c40.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240527200524_ca458b71917eb6517233ccd081355e9375714ff174d909aa85aad3097f3b0c40" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_1e56a270ad04e9d635070648d44907c08236313d8118b7a4ca8bc347877744ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240527200524_1e56a270ad04e9d635070648d44907c08236313d8118b7a4ca8bc347877744ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> <figcaption>Photos: SAILESH RC</figcaption> </figure>  This is the second Deities of Nepal show, after the success of the first one in 2022. It features over 200 creations by 163 artists. Except for Nelson Ferreira’s Nocturnal Paintings of Kathmandu Valley which gleam only after turning on the phone’s flashlight towards the painting, all the other artworks are by Nepal-born artists.&nbsp; “Deities are popular among both artists and audiences,” says curator Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha. “The first exhibition gave us the confidence to be more ambitious and have a bigger show.” Deities of Nepal II took a year of preparation, and the featured artworks were selected from a pool of over 500 items from more than 400 artists. “Exhibitions are a way of introducing Nepal’s heritage to the younger generation which may be more interested in going to an exhibition than paying a visit to a temple, and that is why we decided to give this exhibition continuity,” adds Kayastha. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival">Kathmandu’s gravity-defying chariot festival</a>, Alok Siddhi Tuladhar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_dbb589a2ac205d403a7b12464e6a36aef9926ce096f70b4fc169095e127ff8a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240527200524_dbb589a2ac205d403a7b12464e6a36aef9926ce096f70b4fc169095e127ff8a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240527200524_5b994b5f3520b9d3b743a7c6c8450d2070763a3f2d44d559b8c12a67f02baa4a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240527200524_5b994b5f3520b9d3b743a7c6c8450d2070763a3f2d44d559b8c12a67f02baa4a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1548" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Deities of Nepal NT"> </figure>  The audience one afternoon this week was made up of different age groups and from different walks of life. There were art connoisseurs, college students, the middle-aged, senior citizens and even parents with children. In addition to paintings, thangka, paubha and charcoal drawings, the exhibition features stone and bronze sculptures, and immersive media using the motion graphics of a lotus painting. Says Rana: “Divine art fuses deities and handicrafts, and we have tried to recreate that here.” While the first gallery room is a replica of Kathmandu, an adjacent one is devoted to the stolen deities of Nepal. The second floor has more Hindu gods, and Mithila paintings from the Ramayana and the third floor is mostly made up of sculptures.&nbsp; The exhibition reaches beyond Kathmandu Valley to Tibetan and Mithila art, with some artists having added their own improvisations to reimagine our gods. All this makes Deities of Nepal II a fine showcase of Nepali faith and craftsmanship.&nbsp; Deities of Nepal II 10AM- 5PM (Sundays to Thursdasy) 10AM- 4PM (Fridays) Till 10 June Nepal Art Council, Baber Mahal

In the realm of the gods

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

Four international names in architecture, Shigeru Ban, Rem Koolhaas, Tadao Ando and Louis Isadore Kahn, all left their mark in Nepal. But despite their best intentions, the ambitious designs fizzled out. Ban, Koolhaas and Ando won Pritzkers, the best known international award for architecture, and Kahn could have won it had the prize been given in his lifetime. But their designs fell short of transforming Nepali architecture and did not help inspire local architects.&nbsp; Why were these four ‘starchitects’ unable to pull off their Nepal projects and enrich the country with exemplary contemporary designs? The failure, especially the violation of Kahn’s design, also raises larger questions about how much contemporary architecture is valued in Nepal.&nbsp; Whereas Sri Lanka had Geoffrey Bawa and Bangladesh had Mazharul Islam, the pioneers of contemporary architecture in Nepal have had far less public appreciation. One wonders if Nepali architecture only refers to the monuments and heritage of the past. Nepal does have examples of outstanding modern architecture such as the &nbsp;पाङ्रे घर ‘Wheel House’ and खुट्टे घर &nbsp;‘House on Legs’ by Shankar Nath Rimal in the 1960s. These are the best examples of how some Nepali designers successfully tailored modern architecture to the Nepali context.&nbsp; Ten years ago, Nepal had three architecture magazines, SPACES, praXis and Business Architecture, but none of these survived. This newspaper has prominently covered contemporary architecture, and the built environment, but these are exceptions in Nepal’s media. There have been a few encouraging signs. The 2024 exhibition Modern Encounters in Architecture in Kathmandu Valley (1945-1985) at the Taragaon Museum had many visitors and its accompanying book is a seminal document.&nbsp; In 2023, the Mountain Architecture Dialogue (MAD) that focused on examples of good-practice sustainable contemporary architecture for the mountainous terrains of Nepal was a packed event with over 300 young architects, engineers, environmentalists and architecture students. <h2>Shigeru Ban</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122003128_8bb8dde080c5698c2585966bef27ce4c08e4ee488d3432b2caac98b9de762dfe.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024122003128_8bb8dde080c5698c2585966bef27ce4c08e4ee488d3432b2caac98b9de762dfe" data-rendition-name="original" width="990" height="1074" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal NT"> </figure>  Shigeru Ban had already built a name for himself in post-disaster construction when he came to Nepal following the 2015 earthquakes in which 500,000 people lost their homes. The basic design and its 3D-rendered images were reviewed in upbeat articles on DOMUS, Architectural Review, Dezeen, and Arch Daily.&nbsp; But his signature cardboard tubes could not handle the monsoon and the roof structure had to be re-designed with timber. Only two shelters were completed in Sindupalchok, and only one of them still stands at the Hyatt Regency grounds today, as Ban’s souvenir to Nepal.&nbsp; <h2>Rem Koolhaas</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122003128_58afec9b57accfa38327af0936648c6eb2f2e11ff18f1af8ca27383dc57dc222.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024122003128_58afec9b57accfa38327af0936648c6eb2f2e11ff18f1af8ca27383dc57dc222" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="722" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal NT"> </figure>  The designs of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas have a specific signature: bold shapes and an intriguing architectural typology that challenges standard building blocks. Some designs even seem to defy gravity, like the CCTV headquarters in Beijing: an angular, continuous geometry of glass and steel.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241220031216_a18dc8a8d6b97bc6fa9d590036cf374f9dc3709c699fe5c5787304bbd05cb17d.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241220031216_a18dc8a8d6b97bc6fa9d590036cf374f9dc3709c699fe5c5787304bbd05cb17d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1812" height="1168" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal"> <figcaption>Rem Koolhaas' design for Ullen's School in Khumaltar.</figcaption> </figure>  Koolhaas was commissioned by Belgian billionaire Guy Ullens to design a new building for Ullens School in Khumaltar. The most prominent feature is its vertical glass block staircase. Some interior spaces have lowered windowsills, which provide ample views and daylight. But the school building has gone unremarked in Nepal. <h2>Tadao Ando</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241220031212_cc16bd6feb8be07a7198285b847a45d2126dc3a479e0cc7370331861fc544675.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241220031212_cc16bd6feb8be07a7198285b847a45d2126dc3a479e0cc7370331861fc544675" data-rendition-name="original" width="626" height="628" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal"> </figure>  Doctors providing aid to victims of the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 in Japan requested Tadao Ando, who had donated his Pritzker money to the victims, to also make a design for a hospital in Butwal.&nbsp; Ando’s contribution would be pro-bono and the construction was funded by the Hanshin Earthquake victims and by the popular Japanese newspaper Mainichi, as a tribute to Nepali doctors. The first block that Ando designed for the Siddhartha Children and Women’s Hospital (SCWH) was the out-patient department. He quickly realised that he would not be able to pull off structures with his typical style of smooth-finished, high-quality concrete.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241220031216_73ec0950d52320277ccc81d4a66fa6aa6acb38141e7b7633683e4cf8179dc579.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241220031216_73ec0950d52320277ccc81d4a66fa6aa6acb38141e7b7633683e4cf8179dc579" data-rendition-name="original" width="1594" height="958" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal"> <figcaption>Tadao Ando's Siddhartha Children and Women Hospital in Butwal.</figcaption> </figure>  Ando wrote in the online architectural catalog Architectuul, that the two main problems with the project were costs and the availability of local technology. ‘It became a facility that has a slightly different expression from the buildings I have completed so far,’ he wrote. He designed a colonnade for the west façade that would provide shelter from harsh sunlight, and the exposed brick walls were locally manufactured bricks.&nbsp; The hospital is characterised by modernist cuboidal massing, but the outer brick façades now appear unintentionally badly weathered by monsoons. The interiors lack both sufficient natural light and natural ventilation. <h2>Louis I Kahn</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024122003128_612e199d62fb3e72b6b8f6a936b0fa0451d8c0aa3d831c071320bf423ee3d67f.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024122003128_612e199d62fb3e72b6b8f6a936b0fa0451d8c0aa3d831c071320bf423ee3d67f" data-rendition-name="original" width="694" height="926" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal NT"> </figure>  American architect Louis I Kahn had experience of projects in South Asia, and several were under construction when he died suddenly in 1974. Amongst these were the National Assembly complex in Dhaka, the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and the Family Planning and Maternal Child Welfare Centre in Kathmandu.&nbsp; Kahn had started the USAID funded project in Nepal by developing a master plan for the government institutional zone in Kathmandu, which included a building for the Health Ministry. The building’s façade in exposed brick has deeply recessed vertical windows for shading.&nbsp; The balancing of accentuated horizontal lines in the brickwork with the verticality of the larger composition is the work of a master. The brick walls rise up into punctured parapet walls at the roof level. These square apertures ‘frame the sky’.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241220031216_69c2e4972dbe38773e0a3a3f1129485c9c87033ee84cd454e24ae0dc772d05cf.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241220031216_69c2e4972dbe38773e0a3a3f1129485c9c87033ee84cd454e24ae0dc772d05cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1924" height="1242" loading="lazy" alt="Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal"> <figcaption>Louis Kahn's plan for the Ministry of Health.</figcaption> </figure>  When Kahn died, only the eastern half of the building was finished. The Western part was never built and Nepal’s bureaucrats decided that without paint, the exposed brick façade was not finished. Then in 1995, citing roof leakage and a space crunch, the Health Ministry added a floor.&nbsp; The frames-to-the-sky in the roof parapet were converted into windows and topped off with a sloping roof of corrugated steel sheets, whose only virtue was that it was cost-effective.&nbsp; Kahn’s orthogonal composition, which clean horizontal and vertical lines, was desecrated despite a public outcry and legal challenges from architects and cultural organisations. A version of this article was first published in HIMAL Southasian. Illustrations by Varun S Bapu.

Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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