Emotions are an indispensable part of being human, but in the world of social media networks and the virtual world of augmented reality and AI, people are more connected digitally than they are in their real lives. This creates an emotional distance. The exhibition Antardrishti (Inner Vision) at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thekalasalon/" target="_blank">The Kalā Salon</a> &nbsp;at the Chhaya Centre in Thames attempts to bridge that widening gap. It encourages visitors to pause, reflect and better understand themselves and their identity. Artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sangeeshrestha/" target="_blank">Sangee Shrestha</a>, draws viewers into her own creative world of drawings and paintings on canvases with ample use of red, black, blue, white, grey and green. Each of them features an open or closed eye, signifying the real world and not the make believe one on an Android phone. &nbsp; “One eye is closed so as to push away negative thoughts and bad omens. The other eye is open and drawn wide so as to keep our vision wide and be vigilant,” explains Shrestha, an multiple award-winning artist who has been churning out powerful works since 1993.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026040113044_2392a19f19d11d7abb90b1e880d1935c8c78e816a8636f6cf1ecf2e7409b7aa9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026040113044_2392a19f19d11d7abb90b1e880d1935c8c78e816a8636f6cf1ecf2e7409b7aa9" data-rendition-name="original" width="3546" height="2130" loading="lazy" alt="art review"> </figure>  Geometric figures are an important aspect of her work, and Shrestha uses them to draw various parts of the human anatomy and adornments. Hand gestures hold special significance and meaning in art which has such a spiritual aura that even viewing them feels like an act of devotion. Shrestha refrains from giving a title or a name to her works, and explains: “I deliberately put up my works without a title so that viewers can interpret my creations in their own way,” she adds. Antardrishti is a labour of love that took two years. The show also includes ceramic masks, pots and Shrestha feels that working with clay is therapeutic not just for the artist but for viewers. Each figurine radiates positivity while also offering us a glimpse of the mind that guided the fingers that shaped these forms. Curator Sophia L Pande says as much: “For this exhibition, Sangee Shrestha set herself a challenge to create multiple sets of art that complement each other in theme and vision.” One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 100m long drawing of Egyptian gods and figures from mythical folklore that Shrestha made during one of her visits to Egypt. &nbsp;“What I found interesting is that the Egyptian gods and their stories are also similar to those of our own gods and goddesses,” says Shrestha.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026040113044_ade8452161b3831e1eacf3f489c7d3ae9d5899a93958d0b24f77e1d726dd2168.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026040113044_ade8452161b3831e1eacf3f489c7d3ae9d5899a93958d0b24f77e1d726dd2168" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2866" loading="lazy" alt="art review"> </figure>  The death of her mother three years ago changed the trajectory and content of her work, transforming the way she looked at the world and its transience. She was not confident about her own creative process anymore and started a journey to find her own identity and started pouring her thoughts into canvases While many of her works during this phase featured red, black and other dark colours, one was that of white butterflies flying out from a box, symbolising freedom and inner peace. And somehow they all force us to contemplate impermanence. The focal point of the exhibition is a series of devi goddesses as four separate artworks in a composite in grey, black and a dash of yellow. The use of dull colours signifies the clouds of thoughts, Shrestha says.&nbsp; The painting also includes three stages of a flower in a single branch: the bud, a half-open blossom and a flower with fully unfurled petals. “They depict different stages of human life -- childhood, youth and old age,” explains Shrestha. Also on exhibit are sculptures on metal pieces which reflect spirituality and religion. Climate change is another theme depicted in the melting of the Himalaya. Shrestha tells us: “I wanted my creations to be seen as more than just aesthetically pleasing. But to impart the message to make the best of what as we live our lives.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026040113044_6e38db8d89ae52ea47be66560c1ef6900e00b1196afa2a50c440aa9b534959e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2026040113044_6e38db8d89ae52ea47be66560c1ef6900e00b1196afa2a50c440aa9b534959e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="3139" height="2324" loading="lazy" alt="art review"> </figure>  Antardrishti by Sangee Shrestha <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thekalasalon/" target="_blank">The Kalā Salon</a>,&nbsp; Chhaya Center, Thamel Until 11 April 11 am-5pm

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Artist explores her inner self

The sense of sight is front, centre, and everywhere else as hundreds of eyes follow visitors while they move from one painting to the next at Nikhil Bahadur Shakya’s ongoing exhibition at Siddhartha Art Gallery. Shakya has used blank canvases as well as partially-done thangka and paintings as a base for more than 50 works on display. The exhibit takes visitors beyond the physical world into a surreal spiritual realm. Shakya strips the human body down to muscle, tendon, networks of nerves, and skeleton. But all the while, eyes are a constant presence.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031708034_dddbfedc57433dc528fbf032642abea4ee67e63875091b06a7804cecdc7716cf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026031708034_dddbfedc57433dc528fbf032642abea4ee67e63875091b06a7804cecdc7716cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nikhil Bahadur Shakya"> <figcaption>Artist Nikhil Bahadur Shakya with a visitor.</figcaption> </figure>  The central theme is self-reflection and the journey from one’s outward to inward self, and the works offer a glimpse into the artist’s world of mindfulness.&nbsp; Shakya grew up watching his artisan grandfather design jewellery, which he says cultivated in him an interest for art. During the Covid-19 pandemic, confronted by the fragility of life and the stark reality of death, his art took an introspective turn. The paintings have splashes of neon yellow, pink, red, orange, green, and gold, and Shakya combines them with black and white to create the human body, sunflowers, geometrical shapes, and the cosmos — turning these motifs into elements of devotion and spirituality. In Wheel of Life, Shakya adds to an incomplete thangka, contrasting traditional Buddhist devotional imagery with contemporary mosaic art to create a demon holding on to a wheel with a yin and yang symbol.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031708034_f2a8e10c73aa83a67e5de06a3f0acff9aa35c1cda278b36fed76ed03e71a7014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026031708034_f2a8e10c73aa83a67e5de06a3f0acff9aa35c1cda278b36fed76ed03e71a7014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nikhil Bahadur Shakya"> <figcaption>Wheel of Life (centre)</figcaption> </figure>  “I wanted to reflect the elements of life and the balance of good and bad in this painting,” explains Shakya. “I took a lot of time to complete this particular piece, but it felt as though my vision flowed out of the brush onto the canvas.” The neon colours used means that visitors can see his artwork under blue light as well, giving viewers a chance to look at a single artwork from two different perspectives. His Sunflower series draws from a field of blossoms, and the eyes stare back at visitors in an almost-hypnotic gaze. In An Ancestral Visit, Shakya goes transcendental to depict the connection of living beings to their forebears.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031708038_0fbe465b3af872d04f699030ba093d97aad182221730aef535dbf7d059fb57cf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026031708038_0fbe465b3af872d04f699030ba093d97aad182221730aef535dbf7d059fb57cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1431" loading="lazy" alt="sunflower painting"> </figure>  “In my father’s last days, he was unwell and often unable to eat, it left his body very frail,” explains Shakya. “An Ancestral Visit was inspired by a dream in which I saw my father as his former healthy self. That dream made me feel deeply connected to my ancestors.” In another one of his works titled Devotion, a woman prays to a Shivalinga against a background of red-and-white stripes, which was inspired by the tradition of women being at the forefront during religious and spiritual ceremonies.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031708038_75e30a4fd339257fbc108e3a326f732fd33d25af0428add0d305b8b7824c558c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026031708038_75e30a4fd339257fbc108e3a326f732fd33d25af0428add0d305b8b7824c558c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="devotion"> <figcaption>Devotion</figcaption> </figure>  In Sunyata, which shows a skeletal figure meditating as they are surrounded by flames, Shakya captures the chaos of the outside world with peace of the inner self. Shakya was compelled to create Sunyata when he saw a monk, his body thin and face gaunt, meditating peacefully. “Many viewers might find the painting frightening, but when they take it home, I think it will give them strength whenever they feel like they need it,” says Shakya. The exhibit also includes a gigantic painting of Masan Bhairav spread across two canvases, capturing the majesty of the original work housed at Banepa’s Chandeswori Temple. Shakya met the artist who painted it, and asked to reproduce it.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031708034_0216eac587827b02982f5addbd67c6f852fd7f9f47b477267ea7430d5f862a9b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2026031708034_0216eac587827b02982f5addbd67c6f852fd7f9f47b477267ea7430d5f862a9b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1030" loading="lazy" alt="art review"> </figure>  Geometric figures are another recurring motif on Shakya’s creations, which he says were inspired by mathematics textbooks from his school days. He says, “Art channels the strength of our minds and brings about change in our lives. My paintings reflect the fact that we are all made up of some madness, magic, and love.” Journey to a Visionary Artworld by Nikhil Bahadur Shakya Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Till 6 April 11AM-5PM

In the mind's eye

We often see ourselves reflected in the other. For someone who grew up in Kathmandu Valley in the eighties and nineties, this maxim comes alive with an even greater force. Nepal’s media ecosystem was dismal, the school curriculum was narrow and did not provide opportunities for creative expression. Perhaps that is why I became obsessed with MTV videos and Bollywood films. I saw my developing self reflected in these story-lines and razzmatazz. When the media and education system do not engage the public and reflect myriad interests, aspirations and lifestyles of the population, citizens get detached and disconnected from their roots. I left for America for further studies, and was somewhat determined to never return to Nepal. It was a country full of potholes and black-outs. But foreigners have been fascinated with our country for decades. In the early 19th century, Francis Buchanan-Hamilton led a pioneering expedition and documented more than a thousand species of plants native to the region. Almost a century later, in 1905, Frenchman Sylvan Levi published ‘the first attempt to produce a comprehensive study of Nepal’, drawing on not just indigenous but available Chinese and European sources as well. After Nepal opened up in the 1950s, different kinds of foreigners have traveled here -- most notably, cold-war era spies disguised as diplomats, and later came the hippies. I returned to Nepal in 2013 and was primarily struck by two major demographics - the artists and the expats. Energised by the recent revolution, the creatives were making vibrant, powerful works. The expats, on the other hand, demonstrated a different way to navigate life in Kathmandu Valley. These two groups of people re-introduced Nepal to me and I began seeing my country and my hometown with a renewed perspective. Which is why one particular image from Giovanna Caruso’s ongoing show at the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thekalasalon/?hl=en" target="_blank">Kalā</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thekalasalon/?hl=en" target="_blank"> Salon</a> curated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/facades-and-flowers-from-nepal-to-italy" target="_blank">Sophia L Pandé</a> instantly caught my attention -- rather, it called out to me, as if it was composed for me, framing a key moment from my own life. Its title is, coincidentally, 2013. Like most of her other works, the pen-and-ink drawing is punctuated by an explosion of watercolour: a woman standing confidently in front of a Newa-style house, a leg arched up, as if she is fixing a strap around an ankle before stepping out on an adventure. The watercolour depicts a rainbow streaming out of a pot through a second-floor window. The rest of the details are rendered in realism – clusters of garlic and onion hanging to dry from the rafters, and further down a stack of corn. There are towels drying, even an old water pump.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251201121216_f440de5b5402fe0877dc46d94f41647bd46b00035b61241d46fc9f7ffbd87d0f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251201121216_f440de5b5402fe0877dc46d94f41647bd46b00035b61241d46fc9f7ffbd87d0f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="art review Kala Salon"> </figure>  When I walked over to this artwork with Caruso, she chuckled, “Ah, this work is a celebration of my 30 years in Nepal.” It was while trying to calm a restless group of students during her teaching days in Italy that Caruso first came across an iconic image of Kathmandu Darbar Square. She had found an old box of slides and while projecting images from the Himalaya to engage her students, the artist was determined to travel to Nepal. The first flat she rented was close to the square and the view from her rooftop was the same as the one she had encountered inside her classroom. She has been traveling to Nepal every year since. Some of her favourite drawings depict Khokana in morning fog. From 1993-2006, she drew murals at Ram Mandir and Pashupatinath, asking sadhus to guide her and correct her depictions. Caruso received a classical education, which means she was trained to focus on perspective and geometry while capturing mainly portraits and still lives. She is influenced by M C Escher and his explorations of mathematics and symmetry. No wonder she finds the Darbar Square architecture so compelling. She also names as inspiration Gustave Dore, whose style is different from Escher’s and I can see how she has fused these influences in her body of work: Escher’s austerity complimented and slightly dislodged by Dore’s comics and caricatures. “Before starting, the painting needs to be complete in my mind,” she explains as we pass a series of portraits titled Saraswati, Lakshmi, Kali Dancing, and Durga dominated by a roaring tiger. “These are all real people, I ask my friends and family members to sit for me.” The Kali in the drawing has the artist’s fiery copper red hair and she is dancing, surrounded by various men with flowing hair. The artist seems to have experimented here, drawing the revelers from above, and indulging in playful abandon. Depictions of Nepal are often in danger of being exoticised. But Caruso is familiar with her subjects, knows our alleys and temples intimately. Her colours and compositions are passionate and dense. In an essay, Anirudh S Chari writes the artist’s work is splashed with rapturous energy and most drawings have a carnivalesque element. ‘Kali Dancing’ illustrates this idea perfectly in that she has turned Kali’s usual fearsome portrayal on its head by depicting and embracing another feminine principle - the capacity to celebrate and create joy. Apart from drawing inspiration from Hindu goddesses and Nepal’s multi-colored rituals, Caruso has also drawn the Sumerian Ianna and Lillith and the Egyptian Nut. She enjoys drawing Nataraja, and says it is because “Shiva is a good husband”. We stand another painting titled 100 Days a Lion. “There is a saying in Italian, Better one day as a lion than a hundred days as a sheep, but I thought why not 100 Days a Lion?” This sentiment captures this nomadic artist’s spirit spanning four decades, in which she has captured urban energy as well as the sacred imagery of ‘life diaries on canvas’. From Venezia to Kathmandu and Journeys In Between Giovanna Caruso The Kalā Salon Chhaya Centre Mall, Thamel Till 12 December 10am- 8pm

Looking at Nepal from Venice

Intricately painted Buddha, Aryatara, Krishna, and Parvati gaze serenely at visitors at the Kathmandu Art Gallery under muted amber lights. Moving from one artful devotion to the next, a quiet, profound connection to the divine envelopes the visitor. This transcends art to the realm of the spiritual. &nbsp; The gallery’s latest exhibition, Masters of Devotion, features art by 22 artists all from Bhaktapur. They also include Ajay Karmacharya, Purna Prasad Hyoju, Nhuche Kaji Bajracharya, Rajani Sinkhwal, Shashi Dhar Sainju, Surya Bahadur Chitrakar and Sundar Sinkhwal from the Khowpa Paubha Chowmi Pucha. Paubha are religious and devotional art depicting deities and mandala that date back to the 7th century, when Newa artists began to paint images of the gods on cloth. For the artists who practice this craft, the art form is as meditative as it is meticulous.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251025041028_de34b51d48bcee50ae391301e2ff1890be7ecba3df7e563537c273818825aad5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251025041028_de34b51d48bcee50ae391301e2ff1890be7ecba3df7e563537c273818825aad5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="art review "> </figure>  The exhibition at the newly-opened space Kathmandu Art Gallery coincides with the festival season and is a collection of extravagant works done in mineral and stone colour, sakura and gouache. The vintage art space is located at Babar Mahal Revisited and is a fitting accompaniment to the paubha featured in the exhibit.&nbsp; Sundar Sinkhwal’s vividly painted Harihara is among the more eye-catching works. “Half of the painting is Shiva and half is Vishnu, hence the name Harihar,”explains Sinkhwal. “Together with their consorts Parvati and Laxmi, I have painted Uma-Maheswor and Laxmi-Narayan.” Nandi and Garuda, the vehicles of the two gods, complete the vibrant painting.&nbsp; In contrast, for his piece titled Lakshmi, Sinkhwal shrouds his canvas in dark colours to paint Kuber, the deity revered as the custodian to the wealth in the Hindu pantheon, accompanied by two khyak apparitions —one black, the other white— both mythical creatures in Newari folklore.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251025041032_1bde6de442b742c300bb8c9278ea8886445aa8df47076fd9aa362ce1f8bef903.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251025041032_1bde6de442b742c300bb8c9278ea8886445aa8df47076fd9aa362ce1f8bef903" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="art exhibition"> </figure>  “The black khyak is considered inauspicious, while white ones are a symbol of good luck,” explains Sinkhwal. Purna Prasad Hyoju has used mineral paint on canvas for a powerful depiction of Ardhanareswar, the composite form of Shiva and his consort Parvati.&nbsp; “I drew inspiration from the Newari Swasthani story about the separation of Shiva and Satidevi,” says Hyoju. Legend has it that Shiva, unwilling to part from his consort, reincarnated as a unified dual gender form of himself and Parvati. Hyoju has painted goddess Parvati in bright yellow, in homage to one of her other manifestations, Gauri, which means radiant.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Ratna Gopal Sinkhwal’s Kurkula Devi, done in stone pigment, is radiant on the cotton canvas. “Kurkula Devi is a tantric goddess whose traces are found in the Sadhana Mala,” says Sinkhwal. “The stone pigment is what makes the goddess look like she is gleaming.” One of Sinkhwal’s other works draws from stories in the Mahabharat to depict Bhimsen, Draupadi, Dushasan and Akash Bhairav in confrontation, expressions fierce.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251025041028_72eea52c8504eccb8b3be7cd4cef616dfb8efd821e8b1e1ae8f440f10782be11.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251025041028_72eea52c8504eccb8b3be7cd4cef616dfb8efd821e8b1e1ae8f440f10782be11" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="854" loading="lazy" alt="art exhibition"> </figure>  The opening of the exhibition last week also featured a music session, during which some of the artists sang traditional songs. Their voices joined the rhythm of the madal and melody of the harmonium, adding warmth to the crisp autumn evening.&nbsp; Each painstakingly detailed paubha reflects the artists’ devotion to divinity and mythology, as well as their heritage. Masters of Devotion showcases the work of veritable masters of their craft, and is a must-visit for art connoisseurs and devotees alike. Says the gallery’s Sangeeta Rana Thapa: “It is our honour to celebrate the artists’ work—to stand among pieces that embody both devotion and mastery, and to witness a tradition that continues to inspire us.” Masters of Devotion Kathmandu Art Gallery Baber Mahal Revisited Until 22 November

Artful devotion

The Barun trees surrounding Patan’s Agnishala temple are bowed with age — curving over stout brick walls of the temple, its gnarled branches threading through power lines. Rain drips from its glossy green leaves onto the temple courtyard. The trees are said to have existed for as long as the sacred eternal fire has burned in the temple.&nbsp; Botanical illustrator Neera Joshi Pradhan was on a heritage walk through Patan when she saw yellow flowers blanketing the ground, and recalled visiting the temple for puja with her family as a young girl. “I realised that while we look with much awe at Nepal’s temples and architecture, we tend to neglect our natural heritage," Joshi says. “Once that realisation set in, I started sketching them.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_2b0770b0c497ff2dc1277284e5fdbfd9637d697fef2b0e597669eb7fa57bd067.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250622030648_2b0770b0c497ff2dc1277284e5fdbfd9637d697fef2b0e597669eb7fa57bd067" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1001" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> </figure>  In 2021, Joshi had also been invited to the Florence Biennale, and she extended her stay to spend time with family there. Surrounded by the architecture of the city, she was hit by a strong urge to pick up her sketchbook to commit Italy’s historic buildings and vibrant plant life to paper. The results of this interplay of our natural and cultural heritage are currently on exhibit at The Kalā Salon’s From Nepal to Italy: Drawings of Flora &amp; Vernacular Architecture.&nbsp; Joshi’s collection of more than 40 Pen/Ink and Watercolour Drawings are a departure from her signature precise, detailed botanical illustrations. They explore the history, heritage, and indigenous plant life of Kathmandu Valley, but as well as Rome, Florence, and Brixen.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_5941db0a2eabe91022a74284088ef3b698d90e0ced5db9129803e2d4dc14456e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250622030648_5941db0a2eabe91022a74284088ef3b698d90e0ced5db9129803e2d4dc14456e" data-rendition-name="original" width="631" height="854" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> </figure>  “Neera’s latest collection is a bit different from the botanical illustrations that she is known for, and is a really beautiful project that shows her capabilities as an artist,” says Sophia L Pandé, curator at The Kalā Salon. “Even in her depiction of architecture and heritage, the flora are a constant presence.” Joshi’s artwork include pieces she did during her downtime more than a decade ago, before the thought of painting Nepal’s architecture and flora together had really crossed her mind.&nbsp; One such painting from 2013 includes a view of Swayambhu poking out from its surrounding forest, with blue-green hills in the background and the grey-brown concrete of Kathmandu Valley in the foreground, painted from her perch on Kirtipu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_562df6371592ec90e4a342e23d4024efc96e7e651315fd13fa196acf34ad1868.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250622030648_562df6371592ec90e4a342e23d4024efc96e7e651315fd13fa196acf34ad1868" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1001" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> </figure>  Her more recent works from 2023 include pen/ink watercolours of monkeys playing beneath the shade of a Mayal Tree in Swayambhu, the Barun trees at Agnimath, and Panyu trees with their soft pink blossoms swaying in the breeze. In Italy, Joshi walked along cities sketchbook in hand, admiring the view and stopping at public benches and gardens whenever inspiration struck. Her drawings are serene explorations of everyday life in Italy — people walking through cobblestone alleys or sitting in contemplation in public parks, combined with sweeping landscapes of the country’s architecture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_1e31fc25bbfc9732a2b36ac06d83f765665d2ac63d557d5df467426e4406095f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250622030648_1e31fc25bbfc9732a2b36ac06d83f765665d2ac63d557d5df467426e4406095f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="667" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> <figcaption>Photos: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  In one painting from Italy, titled Balcony, Brixen, the veranda painted in faded brown with its pen and ink detailing of the intricate railings, is reminiscent of Kathmandu Valley’s Newari architecture.&nbsp; “Seeing the balcony took me right back home,” says Joshi. And even when buildings and architecture take up much of the portraits, the plant life is striking. Joshi has captured Supari trees towering over Patan Museum, ivy trailing up the soft yellow façade of a house in Brixen, pink flowers blooming in window boxes along a canal in Venice.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_28fcd3c9ac3f928451e3c26355514c6828cdf94263a56c32c110a82c7572bd52.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250622030648_28fcd3c9ac3f928451e3c26355514c6828cdf94263a56c32c110a82c7572bd52" data-rendition-name="original" width="637" height="871" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> </figure>  Joshi’s attention to detail allows viewers to identify some native plants like the Barun tree flowers in Patan and sweet chestnut native to Italy.&nbsp; Joshi is perhaps the only botanical illustrator in Nepal, and &nbsp;her detailed, vibrant drawings &nbsp;balance scientific accuracy with artistic expression to document and preserve Nepal's native plants. Her exhibition is also accompanied by a colouring book with botanical art.&nbsp; “As we increasingly face natural disasters and the effects of the climate crisis, it is even more crucial to recognise our indigenous flora and save them,” says Joshi.&nbsp; She wants the public to be able to access some of this knowledge so that young people are at least able to identify plant life around them.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250622030648_f974188e16945a659c28702b357c2bc36aff753bc5606f0453417f897a641805.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250622030648_f974188e16945a659c28702b357c2bc36aff753bc5606f0453417f897a641805" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="667" loading="lazy" alt="Façades and Flowers from Nepal and Italy NT"> </figure>  “This is what I am able to do from my side, but there needs to be institutional and policy-level attention to native plant knowledge and conservation,” Joshi says. Adds Pandé: “We are very happy to have released her book as an accompaniment to the exhibition. I hope this is the beginning of something much larger to document and conserve our native plant life.” &nbsp; From Nepal to Italy: Drawings of Flora &amp; Vernacular Architecture By Neera Joshi Pradhan Curated by Sophia L. Pandé Until 6 July 11AM - 8PM The Kalā Salon, Chhaya Center, Thamel

Shristi Karki

Façades and flowers from Nepal to Italy

Global temperature increase is nearing 1.5°C since pre-industrial times, pushing the planet close to irreversible climate tipping points. The Himalayan region is warming even faster than the global average. The exhibition At the Tipping Point: Art and Ecology from the Rooftop of the World seeks to bring the climate emergency into focus, showing that it is not a distant threat, but a present reality reshaping the natural world around us. The exhibition at Taragaon Next features work from 12 artists, including Amit Machamasi, Chris Jordan, Himali Singh Soin, Joana Moll, Maksud Ali Mondal, Monica Ursina Jäeger, Robertina Sebjanic, Salil Subedi, Samyukta Bhandari, Saurganga Darshandhari, Ursula Biemann and Utsa Hazarika.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250617150624_dcdda5b774c21e7f4d2a7e2182aa37a627ebd18f2733491689589d65d287ad82.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250617150624_dcdda5b774c21e7f4d2a7e2182aa37a627ebd18f2733491689589d65d287ad82" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Himalayan tipping points NT"> <figcaption>Amit Machamasi’s Not the Same Anymore, The Irony, and Seeds and Tools</figcaption> </figure>  They highlight the strategic location of Nepal and call for a ‘fundamental rethinking of the ecological imagination- where the local and the global, the visible and the invisible, the scientific and the spiritual converge’ though photographs, paintings, multimedia visuals and sounds. “The world will wake up when you say Everest, it is an important barometer to look at ecology, especially that of Nepal,” says curator Arshiya Lokhandwala from India. “The idea was to look at not only local but global issues as well.”&nbsp; The exhibition began on 5 June with powerful performance art titled Earth Emergence by Salil Subedi who falls from the back of a tractor trailer filled with wet red clay. Amidst sounds of gongs and singing bowls, the audience is taken into a journey of Mother Earth as Subedi approaches what appears to be Mount Meru.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250617150624_965e76bb3c322fc8915428ce168e7ef4419e73be744bb7427e8970cd3a2514db.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250617150624_965e76bb3c322fc8915428ce168e7ef4419e73be744bb7427e8970cd3a2514db" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Himalayan tipping points NT"> <figcaption>Salil Subedi's Earth Emergence. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption> </figure>  Chris Jordan's Midway: Message from the Gyre and Albatross was eight years in the making and depicts the stark fallout from environmental degradation. His eerie images of dead baby albatrosses covered in plastic waste serve as a powerful critique of globalised consumerism. Samyukta Bhandari’s Echoes of Survival addresses the plight of sparrows amidst urban noise. The exhibits consist of a labyrinth of exposed wiring, ceramic sparrow figurines and mirrors, representing the friction for coexistence between sparrows and humans. The mirrors with the sparrow figures symbolise the sparrows colliding with windows.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250617150624_09ba776a03042e47faa97d3ba2cecf7d4adf88b04f02461ff1edd1ba2a488671.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250617150624_09ba776a03042e47faa97d3ba2cecf7d4adf88b04f02461ff1edd1ba2a488671" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Himalayan tipping points NT"> <figcaption>Photo: SUDIKSHA TULADHAR</figcaption> </figure>  Maksud Ali Mondal’s Fungal Habitat presents a self-sustaining ecosystem through the life cycle of a mushroom. As the audience moves through the exhibit, the scent of fungi permeates, underscoring the fact that decay and renewal are a part of life. The Newa traditions of food, harvest, and communal bonds is the highlight of Yomari wo Yomha ji and Grain of Gold by Saurganga Darshandhari. Says the artist, “In Newari tradition, Yomari is made of rice flour, and the grains are grown from the soil. Hence, linkage with the earth is established. These traditions are passed on from one generation to another, and the sweet delicacy is usually made by women, so I tried to create happiness through cooking and linking it to yomari, and the bird, so that she can fly as free as a bird."  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250617150624_df04d076e834c362b00ba17aa0b71988a22b941b35ee0ba7ee9ed0f7cda27cb0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250617150624_df04d076e834c362b00ba17aa0b71988a22b941b35ee0ba7ee9ed0f7cda27cb0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Himalayan tipping points NT"> <figcaption>Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption> </figure>  Such communal bonds are very much tied with the land and harvest, but rapid and haphazard urbanisation has had much adverse impact, as Amit Machamasi’s Not the Same Anymore, The Irony, and Seeds and Tools portray. What were once farmlands are now being plundered and plotted to give way to unplanned and disastrous development. “There must be development, roads must be expanded, but not at the cost of nature,” says Machamasi, as he explains one of the other photographs on display: “The small crow was photographed when the tree that it was residing on was cut off for development.” Our misguided approach to development has a dire impact on the overall ecology, from heat stress in the Tarai to the drying of natural springs in the hills to receding glaciers in the mountains.&nbsp; At the Tipping Point: Art and Ecology from the Rooftop of the World Until 31 August 10:00AM to 5:30PM Taragaon Next Hyatt Regency premises

Himalayan tipping points

Journalism as a form of communication is limited by its format and style. After all, it is history in a hurry. Fiction tries to transcend this, and novels are sometimes turned into movies to get the message across more urgently about the human condition. Poetry goes beyond words and employs sonic language to dig deeply into our innermost feelings. Art takes visual cues to go beyond even poetry. But it is often art for art’s sake. Actually, art is a pure form of communication. Only art can reach the subconscious in us to explore existence and expression. Which is what Mukhiya Samridh and Subesh KC are trying to get across to us with their joint exhibition of installations and paintings in WHOARE.YOU at Siddhartha Art Gallery. Subesh KC is a Norway-based artist who is obsessed with how language determines who we are, how we perceive and are perceived. We take words and sentences as a given, the linguistic codes tumbling out from the recesses of our brain and we spout and write words without thinking. KC deconstructs language into a series of paintings ‘We Simply Find Ourselves Here’ with stylised human forms in a backdrop that looks like gibberish – random imaginary hieroglyphics. The underlying message could be that the written language is just a phonetic code of what is spoken, which in turn encrypts our thoughts, feelings and communicates them imperfectly. WHOARE.YOU is not a question, it is an answer. But visitors are not given answers in a platter, each has to find their own meaning and interpretation. Artists are not required to explain the meaning of their work, but we ask KC anyway. “I am trying to investigate the links between language and our perception of reality, using asemic letters and abstraction to question how language determines our understanding of the self,” he says. KC has partnered with Mukhiya Samridh for this exhibition and has two joint works on display. The most striking is ‘Status Quo’ -- an installation with 1,500 nails hammered into an off-white board and arranged in a sine curve running across like a graph.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250127130128_4f8399e6a907b404a34a6dbc6d3fe12b7b4014ea737f5d44316bdbb1771b49ea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250127130128_4f8399e6a907b404a34a6dbc6d3fe12b7b4014ea737f5d44316bdbb1771b49ea" data-rendition-name="original" width="1778" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="WHOARE.YOU art review"> <figcaption>Status Quo</figcaption> </figure>  “This is the cycle of consciousness,” explains Mukhiya. “We start from a high point where the ego is dominant, then we find out we are not so smart after all, and only after that lesson in humility do we rise up again to be enlightened. And all the time society is trying to hammer in any nail that sticks out.” Mukhiya is the son of artist Tekbir Mukhiya who has designed over 4,000 covers of Nepali books, many of them in wood blocks, in a career spanning five decades. Samridh has obviously inherited some of the abstract ways of expression from his versatile father. Samridh and Subesh went their separate ways from Nepal and came together again last year for this exhibition of conceptual work, and took five months to hammer out the main message which is an inquiry into who we are. And as visitors move from one exhibit to the next, they are left to also ponder: Who am I? Why am I? What am I? Where am I going after this? Samridh’s installations have a bleached faded look with no colours to distract us from the message. In a series called Nepali Time, just the second hand of clocks tick noisily reminding us also of the temporal dimension. While exploring concepts of language, consciousness, illusion and freedom, the collaborative exhibition has a thread running through it: the question of identity. Not a national or ethnic identity but a sentient identity, a being that is capable of pondering the mystery of its own existence and express it in the language of art. WHOARE.YOU forces us to think about why are we in this world at this time. Kunda Dixit  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250127130128_946d7cebeacaf615ae468a1cab597badcc1d75e0161a2aa22ae2eaca1a4519d3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250127130128_946d7cebeacaf615ae468a1cab597badcc1d75e0161a2aa22ae2eaca1a4519d3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1134" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="WHOARE.YOU art review"> </figure>  WHOARE.YOU Till 19 February Siddhartha Art Gallery Baber Mahal Revisited

Communicating existence through art

The art scene in Nepal is witnessing a renaissance, and at the centre of this resurgence is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139">Tsherin Sherpa</a>, the internationally renowned artist known for his distinctive, and sometimes provocative, fusion of traditional and contemporary. Sherpa has now embarked on a new chapter in his career by returning to Nepal to open <a href="http://www.takpagallery.com/">Takpa</a>, Kathmandu’s newest art gallery strategically located in Lazimpat. ‘Takpa’ is a playful spin on the Buddhist expression of ‘Mitakpa’ which means impermanence. So, Takpa is permanence and for Sherpa this name encapsulates his exploration of the dynamic interplay between the sacred and the secular and reflecting his journey from traditional thangka painting to the unique, hybrid approach he eventually mastered. “Growing up, I never thought I would be an artist. My father was an established thangka painter, and he always wanted to hand over his knowledge to one of the children. For better or worse, it happened to be me,” quips Sherpa who started <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">painting thangkas</a> at 12.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023083104084_36f4866caba6ddf21f17b1c3ef85a936ef4797b11b3a844db1c95db0ef9fc2ac.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023083104084_36f4866caba6ddf21f17b1c3ef85a936ef4797b11b3a844db1c95db0ef9fc2ac" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Takpa Gallery"> </figure>  But in the late 1990s venerated thangka art was becoming commodified as in tourist souvenir shops. “I was discouraged seeing this, and did not want to follow my father’s footsteps,” recalls Sherpa who enrolled in a computer science course in Taipei and later went to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/us-nepali-art">United States</a> in 1998 to live there for the next 20 years. Away from home, Sherpa needed an emotional outlet which he found in art. He visited museums and exhibitions, and rediscovered the real sacred significance of thangka paintings.&nbsp; Two exhibitions of South Asian and Chinese art pushed him to experiment with traditional techniques like Chinese brush in contemporary art. &nbsp; But Sherpa does not regret his Computer Science degree, in fact it allowed him to integrate technology into his art. He explains, “Computer science actually helped me visualise my work, allowing me to spend less time drawing sketch after sketch. I do one sketch, scan it, work on the computer and finalise it.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023083104084_b7cd3d76c665505d343a523cbb911185159514dde895797dfc984e1f5a95fa37.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023083104084_b7cd3d76c665505d343a523cbb911185159514dde895797dfc984e1f5a95fa37" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Takpa Gallery"> </figure>  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-craft-of-art">Sherpa’s shift</a> from traditional thangka painting has been shaped by encounters with diverse art forms during his time in the United States.&nbsp; For instance, his first experience of painting something non-traditional was a marketing poster for Jamba Juice. This made him realise that he could go beyond the traditional confines to express himself and bridge the gap between older and modern art forms. Sherpa now divides his time between California and Kathmandu and draws inspiration from diverse cross-cultural lifestyles to imbue vitality in his artistic expression.&nbsp; “Your work becomes stagnant if you are just in one place. Travelling allows me to go to new places and learn, so I keep moving,” he says. And yet, each of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/god-and-superman">Sherpa’s works</a> is a visual representation of his heritage. The modernised thangka themes represent his heritage and identity.&nbsp; Collaboration has become a hallmark of Sherpa's artistic approach, and he works with local artisans to develop skills and offer them platforms to exhibit. His tie-up with traditional copper repoussé artists after the 2015 earthquake resulted in exhibitions spanning continents and landing collaborative work at the Rubin Museum in New York. Back in 2018 when he relocated back to Nepal, Sherpa noticed that there were not enough platforms for emerging artists to showcase talent. In 2022, Nepal participated in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-pavilion-afloat-in-venice">Venice Biennale</a> for the first time, where Sherpa collaborated with many local artists, sculptors and installations, providing them with the exposure they deserved.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023083104084_961a0d2fecc3aecf134463af308fbddefbb83b781d025d46de32c2532b455128.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2023083104084_961a0d2fecc3aecf134463af308fbddefbb83b781d025d46de32c2532b455128" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Takpa Gallery"> </figure>  Takpa is an extension of this collaboration with Nepali artists, which comes after <a href="https://windhorseartgallery.com/">Windhorse Gallery in Jhamsikhel</a> which he also had a hand in opening three years ago. Takpa is currently showing artist Pooja Duwal’s first solo art exhibition Stranger Is a Friend.&nbsp; Takpa also showcases Tsherin Sherpa’s work from time to time, but the artist says his main intention is to help Nepali artists.&nbsp; “I am more visible internationally and I want to use that opportunity to create a platform for other emerging artists so they get more visibility,” he says.&nbsp; Sherpa also has a non-profit, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HimalyanARTinitiative/">Himalayan Art Initiative</a> that provides training to young artists in Nepal teaching both traditional thangka painting as well as contemporary art styles.&nbsp; He says, “If there is potential, we showcase the work at our gallery and then internationally. It all comes back to not letting art die.” Strangers no more With an array of both large and small oil on canvas and charcoal created in six months, Pooja Duwal’s exhibition Stranger Is a Friend invites viewers to contemplate the transformation of Bhaktapur.&nbsp; The charcoals are strikingly monochromatic and melancholic, and are a commentary on what Nepal risks losing in its frenzied march to modernity. The portraits depict Duwal’s family members, with her sister as a recurring muse. These alla prima creations exude an immediacy and authenticity.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023083104088_306323233dbbe6603137a258741e36e1d29d19d98c5722573a779ade93b0471a.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="2023083104088_306323233dbbe6603137a258741e36e1d29d19d98c5722573a779ade93b0471a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1927" height="1207" loading="lazy" alt="Takpa Gallery"> </figure>  &nbsp;Duwal paints Bhaktapur’s labyrinthine alleys and hidden corners meticulously capturing the mundane yet profoundly meaningful everyday activities: laundry drying a terrace, people sipping tea, reading a newspaper or strolling down by a pond.&nbsp; Stranger is a Friend is a visual documentary of the tangible and intangible threads, and an enduring spirit in life’s fleeting moments. In two pieces, Duwal employs diptychs and triptychs, weaving together narratives that transcend individual frames, drawing viewers to complex connections between specific instances, individuals, and the city itself. Duwal's art serves as a reminder to slow down and savour memories and moments of life as time races by. The paintings offer a haven for contemplation.

Tsherin Sherpa returns home to Takpa

A piece of fabric can take on a dynamic meaning in art, as evidenced by eeSofiya Maharjan’s works currently on display at Dalai La Art Space in Thamel. Viewers are made aware of delicate childhood memories: clutching on to one’s mother’s hem for a sense of security, or perhaps to call, to seek attention, to be invited into a world that is at the outset far from reach for a young child. Maharjan plays not only with her own memory but also that of her mother’s, and this is the central theme of the exhibition Absence Unbothered. Raised by a single mother who left her husband when Maharjan was only eight, she is as inspired by her mother’s nostalgia for her own childhood as she is by how that yearning and the stories told by her mother shaped her own experience growing up.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230423120412_d0550e05cd9d442efbaf847e58bdcd2c4f4343f32bfe68ac615b1183a4056189.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230423120412_d0550e05cd9d442efbaf847e58bdcd2c4f4343f32bfe68ac615b1183a4056189" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Absence Unbothered art review"> </figure>  Maharjan’s works are visually striking and unique in their execution. Using white fabric, stitch and photo transfer, a vision of an absence is rendered to canvas – an absence of a man, a father, and that her mother made sure the children never felt in their lives. The artworks express a profound sense of loss worsened by the patriarchal fist that limits a woman’s choice, freedom and desires, but at their core, they are about an absence that is not present. The absence also gave her brother an opportunity to step up, filling in the role of her father, as shown by ‘Jhin Nima’. The idea had been in the back of Maharjan’s mind for some time, but it did not start to take form until her third year in college when she worked with her family archives. “At the time, I was not entirely sure what the idea looked like concretely,” she recalls, “but it was in the middle of the pandemic and that allowed me a chance to know my mother more intimately.” She began to collect stories of her mamaghar, where she was close with her mother's family. Her mother, too, would tell her and her brother stories of her own childhood in fragments, which then Maharjan would piece together like stitching together a large, colourful tapestry of joys and sorrows, laughter and comfort – almost a precursor to her matured works in the exhibition, where these emotions and stories get concrete shape in objects such as gherwa lamps, karuwa, dalchaa and gha.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023042312048_00264e19f39a96d9972efc9af08c3554998ddd0a989f5c23699e9ca3360d1f74.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023042312048_00264e19f39a96d9972efc9af08c3554998ddd0a989f5c23699e9ca3360d1f74" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Absence Unbothered art review"> </figure>  The objects themselves take on a double significance in Absence unbothered. While they are most naturally the tangible connection her mother has with her past, they also speak of another added layer. When her mother left her husband and his family, she had to leave behind many things that she had collected over the years. Some of them were gifts of love from family members while others were fruits of her own hard work. “When I was growing up, many of my friends used to wear their mother’s jewellery and clothes, but that was not possible for me,” says Maharjan. “When I used to ask my mother for her things, she would say, ‘Oh, I left that behind’. She used to miss them but did not have anything from her past with her that she could share with me.” Now, the cousins on her father’s side wear the same jewellery and clothes and seeing this fills her with sadness. Maharjan’s mother now keeps a clothing store in Pinchhen in Lalitpur, she re-collected all that she lost: the cha: cha:, the ghadi. The fabric Maharjan uses is also inspired by clothes she found in the store. “And she worked hard, standing tall and independent, warmly holding us in her arms, and giving us space and peace,” says Maharjan.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023042312048_4eed148e551efb391e8aeb83934b679e4dda97be6a44f25c60f74ccac4d9df97.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2023042312048_4eed148e551efb391e8aeb83934b679e4dda97be6a44f25c60f74ccac4d9df97" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Absence Unbothered art review"> </figure>  This fact is immediately represented by a series of three larger works, which show a mother with her children. Each is faceless and the details are in their clothes, meticulous stitchwork that add depth and an inviting texture. Here, it becomes apparent that the story Maharjan is telling is not just her own but of countless young people who grow up in a similar absence.&nbsp; “There were times when I felt the difference from many of my classmates who grew up in families with fathers,” says Maharjan, who is 26 now. “But not anymore. My mother built a house without a husband and that’s okay. It has brought us closer. I am who I am now because my father was not around.” Absence Unbothered Sofiya Maharjan Dalai La Art Space, Thamel Until 6 May

Ashish Dhakal

Girl, unbothered

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fc09c7e80680e0c2531jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1333"/>For 19 days in May, artist Sushila Singh followed the Rato Machhindranath chariot, its construction from the ground up.She sat, watching the locals gather material to build the rath and sketched the progress in real time, the chariot taking form in sharp, meticulously sketched black lines.By the time Bunga Dyo Jatra was over, Singh had made 19 drawings, 16 of which will be on display at the upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Nepali Art (MoNA) starting 17 July.Singh came to Pulchok from Baneswor every morning at around 5 before her two children were up.“It was helpful that they didn’t have school then,” she quips. She would work for two to three hours before the sun got too warm, sometimes returning in the evenings to plan where she could sit and work the next day.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fc49c7e80680e0c2532jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1530" height="2000">The series is reminiscent of the chronophotography, the 19th-century photography technique that captured multiple phases of motion, and prompt one to imagine the drawings placed side-by-side and then moved at lightning-speed.The chariot of Bunga Dyo grows before the viewer’s eyes: first the wheels, then the wooden columns. Slowly the storeys add and the skeleton rises. Then comes the outer layer of green Juniper and vines, which look like lines reached out to the heavens.Sketched entirely in pen and ink, the drawings strip the rath off any ostentatiousness, presenting it in its essential form. In the shifting hues of a consistent palette, the audience notices how the shape, size and depth of the lines change according to the light, and where Singh must have sat when she made them.The light is not exactly visible on the canvas, but Singh leaves clues. In one of the drawings, for example, a rope extends, curls and breaks.She explains, “I drew it as it appeared to me when the light hit it from behind.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fc79c7e80680e0c2533jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1333" height="2000">In some ways, the gradual growth in the drawings is also reflective of Singh’s own artistic journey, inviting the viewer to think about the dedicated creative process.Like many artists, she too began drawing at a young age, making hills and mountains in school, and filling in the colours.“I remember I used to make postcards during Guru Purnima and other festivals myself and gift them to my teachers and friends,” she says, but this did not necessarily mean that she knew she wanted to be an artist later in life: in fact, all she was certain about was that she did not want to do a 9-5 job.In 2004, after completing her bachelor’s in accounting, Singh joined Lalit Kala Campus for fine arts without telling anyone.“Even then I did not know what I wanted to do,” she recalls, a wide smile across her face, “but I enjoyed art school very much, and slowly, almost subconsciously, I became an artist.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fca9c7e80680e0c2534jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1313" height="2000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fcd9c7e80680e0c2535jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1322" height="2000">Many art students begin with portraiture, and Singh’s portraits were well-received in her family. Her parents, she recalls, did not force dreams and ambitions upon her. “They were pleased and encouraging,” she says.Then in 2011, she had a successful first solo exhibition at the Nepal Art Council, some pieces from the show will be displayed at MoNA as well.These works are striking for their linework, and also the fact that Singh made the canvases herself, unfolding the paper on a stretcher and then applying three layers of white texture.But Singh’s œuvre is multimedia. She had in 2019 an exhibition showcasing her work on paper and with ceramics, ‘Udaan, Beyond Bounds’.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fd19c7e80680e0c2536jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1334" height="2000">Highlights of the exhibition were the iconic dream-like temple pagodas in black and orange strokes, with oblique finials, as though one were looking up at an exceedingly tall monument –– and earned her a National Award.She repeated the feat in 2021 with her brick installation at Gallery MCube, a section of which will be reproduced at MoNa.She did learn to work with pencil in the beginning, but Singh now prefers to draw directly with pen and ink without outlining. But Singh enjoys this intense artistic experience: “I find that it helps me be more confident, and thoughtful.”Perhaps this is only fitting for an artist whose works reflect long periods of careful thinking and thorough patience, often accompanied by philosophical enquiries. “I am also the kind of person who thinks about where these thoughts come from,” Singh says laughing.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/63722fd59c7e80680e0c2537jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1333" height="2000">She recalls that during her work on the chariot of Bunga Dyo, she found parallels between the structure, the construction, and the different private and public persona of people.“As in the case of the rath, we only ever see the outside, what’s apparent, and very few of us pause to think about what’s hidden,” she says. “After all, the rath cannot stand unless it is one with the people and the people with each other.”The many layers of meanings and musings are characteristic of Singh’s artwork, which become even more pertinent when one realises that no women participate in the construction of the rath, except as spectators or on a specific day when only women pull the chariot from Lagankhel to Thati.In these 16 exquisite drawings, Sushil’s Singh has built her own chariot.The exhibition will take place alongside that of Raj Prakash Man Tuladhar at the Museum of Nepali Art, Thamel 17-30 July 2022.Read more: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">Makers of Machhindranath</a>, Cynthia Choo

Sketching the chariot of the rain god

Samsung Nepal has opened pre-orders for the Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G. Both phones run Samsung’s One UI 8.5, featuring AI capabilities like voice transcription, Circle to Search, and photo editing. They feature a 50MP triple-camera system, a Super AMOLED display, and six years of OS and security updates.

Galaxy A series

The war in West Asia has exposed the fragility of the economic architecture Nepal has built on over two generations. If the conflict continues, growth across developing Asia will slow and prices will rise. For Nepal, this will be felt through higher living costs, weaker economic activity, and growing uncertainty for the millions of families who depend on remittances.&nbsp; Nepal now needs to structurally transform from exporting labour to investing in domestic job creation. &nbsp; The country's current path toward a knowledge economy has a blind spot. A <a href="https://iids.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/unleashing.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) in Kathmandu shows that IT export companies alone generated 7,228 jobs and income for 66,509 freelancers.&nbsp; We are building digital labour export, not an economy that accumulates institutional knowledge. The Nepali Upwork developer and a migrant construction worker in the Gulf are engaged in the same economic activity, but with different tools. Nepal’s reliance on a <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?locations=NP" target="_blank">remittance-driven economy,</a> means the country has failed to create enough <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal/publication/unlocking-nepal-s-growth-potential" target="_blank">quality jobs</a> at home. For millions of young people, leaving the country is not a choice but a necessity to survive and support families back home. <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal/publication/unlocking-nepal-s-growth-potential" target="_blank">Remittances</a> have no doubt helped reduce poverty. Thirty years ago, 55% of Nepal’s population lived on less than $2.15 a day, now it is 20% after the absolute poverty line was revised upwards. This progress has come at a cost — &nbsp;an economy that depends more on exporting workers than creating opportunities at home. This development reflects a deeper political failure to create meaningful jobs within the country. Since the democratic transition in 1991, Nepal’s leadership has largely recycled the same faces, with limited progress on job creation or industrial growth.&nbsp; Nepal cannot build a <a href="https://nipore.org/accelerating-nepals-startups/" target="_blank">knowledge economy</a> while its most ambitious people are outbound to Doha and Tokyo. We are also not just losing ‘labour’. We are losing the entrepreneurial risk tolerance of our youth.&nbsp; If the most ambitious 25-year-olds are abroad, who is left to support innovation and entrepreneurship? The same people who are working tirelessly abroad, are our biggest asset for development. Their work ethic and the know-how inurban renewal could well fit into the new RSP government’s mandate of 7% annual growth.&nbsp; The <a href="https://english.biznessnews.com/posts/-nepal%E2%80%99s-it-exports-cross-1-billion-" target="_blank">$1B milestone</a> of IT exports is a celebratory moment for Nepal. However, that cannot lead to a pathway to a $100 billion economy without innovation ecosystems that go beyond individual labour export. Companies like SecurityPal and industry associations such as NASIT have made significant efforts in building such an environment, recently championed by private sector leaders as a &nbsp;<a href="https://www.securitypalhq.com/blog/silicon-peaks" target="_blank">Silicon Peaks</a> model that emphasises a home growth tech cluster. The need to accelerate this transition is even more urgent with the escalating conflict in West Asia. &nbsp;The recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) <a href="https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/Nepal%20LDC%20Graduation%20Employment%20Impacts%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> shows that LDC graduation is expected to adversely impact manufacturing with losses of $1 billion by 2030.&nbsp; If manufacturing takes such a large hit from losing trade preferences, then Nepal’s services and IT sectors need to structurally transform and shift from exporting individual talent to building firms. &nbsp; A generation’s frustration has finally forced a shift in Nepal’s political structure, handing the new government a clear mandate to fix failures. But the question still persists: what prevents Nepal from achieving sustained, productivity-driven growth? &nbsp;&nbsp; RSP is in the right place at the right time to put Nepal's economy on a firm footing. At the heart of Nepal’s economic underperformance lies a major development binding constraint: low returns to investment on projects.&nbsp; The government invests like a high-growth economy, with gross capital formation at around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.GDI.FTOT.ZS?locations=NP" target="_blank">25–30 percent of GDP</a>. Yet economic growth remains modest. The problem is not how much the country invests, but how little it gets in return. One way to see this is by looking at how much investment is required to generate growth.&nbsp; Nepal needs large amounts of capital to produce relatively small gains in output (graph, below). For instance, in 2024, the ICOR was 8.29, this suggests that Nepal had to invest more than 8 units of capital to produce a one unit of additional economic output.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260406040412_605dc527641d2ff2dc5723ed8bbec946898331d5538a55b9941e32a0725bf811.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20260406040412_605dc527641d2ff2dc5723ed8bbec946898331d5538a55b9941e32a0725bf811" data-rendition-name="original" width="1827" height="925" loading="lazy" alt="Economy graph"> <figcaption>Source: Author's calculation based on a Growth Diagnostic simulation</figcaption> </figure>  This reflects a deeper issue in how investment is allocated and executed. Capital is often locked in low-productivity sectors or diluted by delays, inefficiencies, and policy uncertainty.&nbsp; As a result, even high levels of investment fail to translate into sustained growth. Until investment shifts toward productive, firm-building activities, higher spending alone will not deliver results. &nbsp; To reverse this, the government must focus on raising the returns to investment by enabling firms to grow and compete. This requires a shift from managing scarcity to creating an environment where capital can generate consistent and predictable returns. A central priority should be given to attracting and retaining both domestic and foreign private investment. Investors do not just respond to direct incentives, but also to policy stability in the country. Nepal’s economy cannot sustain high growth if its human capital continues to leave the country.&nbsp; The goal should not simply be to create jobs, but to build companies that scale, innovate, and compete beyond Nepal. This requires supporting sectors with strong productivity potential and ensuring that firms can expand without being constrained by infrastructure gaps or regulatory friction. Finally, the state must improve the quality of its own investment. Public spending should focus on lowering the cost of doing business through reliable electricity, efficient logistics, and digital infrastructure.&nbsp; The GenZ movement took two days to bring change. The economic transformation of Nepal might take a generation. The RSP can accelerate this transition, but only if it focuses on building a better investment climate for business and not just feeding the global labour pool. Kailash Raj Pandey is an MPA/ID and MBA candidate at Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan School of Management and a fellow at MIT Kuo Sharper Center for Innovation and Prosperity.&nbsp; Siddhartha Raymajhí is a policy researcher based in Kathmandu.

Creating a firm future for Nepal

Know your Ministers

Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday broke tradition and met with 17 foreign envoys collectively, a move that was a notable departure from how his predecessors operated.&nbsp;
Shah had already set himself apart by talking less, listening more, and delegating to trusted friends. But by meeting all ambassadors at one go in the presence of the Foreign Ministry, he signalled a paradigm shift in how he wants Nepal to be seen: no longer just balancing India and China, but as a country confident about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/tripolar-contestation-over-nepal">strategic importance and place in the world</a>.
In just two weeks, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rsp-dos-and-don-ts">RSP has sprung into action </a>on multiple fronts to implement its ambitious 100-point, 100-days action plan. It has taken short-term measures to mitigate the impact of the Gulf war, as well as medium- and long- term measures to streamline the bureaucracy. A few high-profile figures have been made examples of to drive the message home.
Earlier this week, the government recalled six politically appointed ambassadors, the most notable being long-serving Shankar Sharma from New Delhi. The Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his former foreign minister wife Arzu Rana on charges of money laundering and corruption.
Each ministry has been trying to clean up the accumulated rot from the past three decades: regulatory overhaul of microfinance, education, health and service delivery.&nbsp;
These actions widely disseminated campaign-style on YouTube and TikTok have made most Nepalis hopeful that the party they installed in power means business.
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BACKLASH
But such attempts to overhaul a long-entrenched political culture were bound to face backlash. In their impatience and enthusiasm to get things done, some of Prime Minister Shah’s ministers have over-reached.
It was common knowledge that government-paid advertising in the mainstream press was kickback-driven, but the PMO’s directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media has been denounced — especially as the media industry struggles to stay afloat.
More serious are some recent appointments by ministers of relatives and figures closely associated with the RSP to key positions. This has rankled because this party built its political plank on ending nepotism and graft.&nbsp;
News that Home Minister Sudan Gurung allegedly had not paid rent on leased land, which illegally encroached on the lake in Pokhara did not help. &nbsp;
Prime Minister Shah himself has come under scrutiny for appointing a kitchen cabinet full of male buddies from his time as Kathmandu mayor. To douse criticism he brought in as adviser investigative journalist Deepa Dahal, who has exposed corruption in high places of the previous coalitions.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment of another political adviser Asim Shah to the head Constitution Amendment Task Force, is also seen as problematic. He is a filmmaker and former lawmaker, but does not have a background in constitutional law.&nbsp;
Even more controversial is the Cabinet’s decision to appoint RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s legal counsel, Narayan Kandel, as Attorney General. Kandel used to be a UK permanent resident, and does not have as much experience practicing law in Nepal.&nbsp;
Kandel’s appointment drew flak and raised eyebrows, and with the pending legal cases against Lamichhane this appointment represents a flagrant conflict of interest.
Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also accused of favouritism after reappointing Junu Shrestha, wife of Labour Minister Dipak Kumar Shah, as member of the Health Insurance Board which had earlier suspended her. The Labour Minister’s rambling rant at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday has not helped the RSP’s image.&nbsp;
(UPDATE: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shah sacked the Labour Minister after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal )
It is hard to know what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ball-in-balen-s-court">Balendra Shah is thinking</a>, and how Rabi Lamichhane is going to justify some of these moves. After all, making politics, governance, and bureaucracy a meritocracy has been the core tenet of the RSP, and it risks alienating its mainly youth base if these missteps persist.
But at least for now, most RSP supporters seem to be giving the party the benefit of doubt.

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