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;

Vishad Raj Onta

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The unbearable lightness of being old

Buddha Was Born in Nepal आमा बुबाको आशीर्वाद उडायो कान्छी तिम्रो पछ्यौरी मेरो रफ्तारले पैसा बिनाको ATM र जब बिनाको KTM उस्तै रहेछ Don’t Tich Your Father’s How 2 Drive These colourful messages behind long-haul trucks and other public transport on Nepal's roads represent art and literature in motion, an outlet for their drivers for creative expression and social commentary.&nbsp; Tipper trucks and buses might advise fellow road users to ‘Horn Please’, or ‘Speed Control’ while others sport bumper art that proclaim them to be ‘Road King’.&nbsp; Examples of truck art are on exhibit at the ‘Sawari Kathaharu’ exhibition at Siddhartha Art Gallery with photographs by writer-photographer Sravasti Ghosh Dastidar, London-based journalist Abhushan Gautam, and digital illustrations by graphic designer and artist Shubha Joshi.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240517120556_b2cbb63ad822d8e03deaafee229be470523fb627eb6da21278c258753b5abedc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240517120556_b2cbb63ad822d8e03deaafee229be470523fb627eb6da21278c258753b5abedc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1502" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Art and poetry in motion NT"> <figcaption>(From left to right) Writer/photographer Sravasti Ghosh Dastidar, Siddhartha Art Gallery curator Sangeeta Thapa, curatorial assistant Urza Acharya, and illustrator Shubha Joshi. Photo: NAVARAJ DANGOL</figcaption> </figure>  The photographs showcase attempts by drivers and owners to breathe life and personality into the vehicles they spend so much of their lives on. But they also reflect the Nepali zeitgeist. The ‘Love and Death’ and ‘Philosophy’ series feature images of vehicle literature, verses, messages, and commentary that are in turn humorous and profound.&nbsp; The back of one truck photographed by Gautam seems to be inspired by Nepal’s high highway accident rate: ‘Donate blood but not on the road’. A jeep carrying banana leaves has a flirty message of unrequited underneath a poignant statement on youth migration.&nbsp; One of Gautam’s photographs is of the back of a silver microbus ‘No Speed No Ulti’, possibly a branding exercise to attract passenger prone to car sickness.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240517120556_1185146ce26e613cc328c025664f445ebf77925b04dbdf747d39b1a6a76c3179.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240517120556_1185146ce26e613cc328c025664f445ebf77925b04dbdf747d39b1a6a76c3179" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Art and poetry in motion NT"> <figcaption>Photos: SRAVASTI GHOSH DASTIDAR</figcaption> </figure>  Other photographs from Ghosh Dastidar show vehicles embellished with bright and gaudy artwork ranging from deer walking serenely along a green field, to pop culture’s beloved supervillain The Joker peering menacingly at passersby from the back door of a truck.&nbsp; A lot of the art depict gods from the Hindu pantheon, but there are also images of the Buddha, King Birendra’s family, international football players, Bollywood actors, and of late, Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah in shades. “I like to find beauty in everything, and everyone,” said Ghosh Dastidar at the opening of the exhibition on Monday. “Amidst all the dust and clutter of the roads and workshops, I tried to concentrate on the colours and figures painted, painstakingly, onto lacklustre metal bodies.”&nbsp; Ghosh Dastidar has also documented work that goes on behind the scenes, &nbsp;with photographs of the materials involved as well as audio testimonies of artists who meticulously render images and text onto the bodies of vehicles. Gautam has similarly been documenting ‘Sawari Sahitya’ on his Instagram Account Literature on Wheels since 2013, taking photographs of vehicles featuring memorable quotes.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240517120556_be718f3ecb68a56abcdfd342e62ebc3cd26f0b706132a08a25cf845c4bb77c37.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240517120556_be718f3ecb68a56abcdfd342e62ebc3cd26f0b706132a08a25cf845c4bb77c37" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Art and poetry in motion NT"> </figure>  Artist Shubha Joshi for her part has created vibrant digital illustrations of some of the more witty and notable examples of vehicle literature, and has tried to undercut masculine narratives with feminine takes in some of her work. One such illustration includes a lady in traditional garb riding a motorcycle with a man holding onto her shoulders behind her which says, ‘‘कान्छा Love मा धोका खानु भन्दा आउ, मेरो बाइक पछाडी बसेर KTM को धुलो खाउ’. (Kanchha, rather than be betrayed in love, come ride pillion in my bike and bite Kathmandu’s dust) “Some of the messages were quite male-centric, so Shubha turned them around,” explained Sangeeta Thapa, curator of the Siddhartha Art Gallery.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024051713050_cd1210d69be02462b5534e8b0b33aee95d0069e15dfd4e6dedb6baaaeaf4281f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024051713050_cd1210d69be02462b5534e8b0b33aee95d0069e15dfd4e6dedb6baaaeaf4281f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Art and poetry in motion NT"> </figure>  For Joshi it has been challenging to turn the flashy, over-the-top graphics illustrating truck literature into digital art. “While travelling through micros, tempos and bus rides, I had often observed truck literature, but working on this project made me see them in a new light,” said Joshi. “Beyond the act of creation, what truly resonated with me was the ethos of the truck art itself, its spirit of fun, freedom and taking life in its stride.”&nbsp; The exhibition also includes a short documentary titled Sawari Sahitya made by Urza Acharya, Julin Rajbhandari and Sejol Pradhanang which has interviews with drivers, aspiring drivers and workshop staff. The exhibition also has an interactive puzzle which visitors can put together to form their own truck literature. Some have left their own poetry, like: ‘तिम्रो ढाकाटोपी भरी हनिमुन मनाउला,’ &nbsp;and ‘धोका खानेलाई Bike को रफ्तारले पोखरामा’.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240517120556_aaac4fbe7b51b49d541944f00dc5b75334e6c8315d60272cb9bfb121011060a7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240517120556_aaac4fbe7b51b49d541944f00dc5b75334e6c8315d60272cb9bfb121011060a7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1502" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Art and poetry in motion NT"> <figcaption>Photo: NAVARAJ DANGOL</figcaption> </figure>  “Many of us look at this kind of art condescendingly but to the truck drivers, the truck owners or the artists, this is their livelihood, the trucks are their homes,” said Ghosh Dastidar. Indeed, angry travellers stuck on gridlocked highways may not find funny a painting of Lord Shiva smoking pot on the back of a truck, but for the drivers the truck is their canvas, their workplace, &nbsp;and a place of worship.&nbsp; Besides being their means of livelihood, the back of a bus is also a blank page for poetry and socio-political reflection. Sawari Kathaharu&nbsp; 11AM-5PM (Sunday to Friday) 12PM-5PM (Saturday) Till 27 May Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited

Shristi Karki

Art and poetry in motion

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639057fa9c7e80680e0ce17fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2304" height="1536"/><figcaption>All phtos: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption></figure>Twenty-one acrylic portals on the crossroads of physical and spiritual worlds await visitors along an unassuming corridor. In Siddhartha Art Gallery, contemporary artist <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16424" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Binod Pradhan</a> depicts the mythical Beyul, sacred hidden valleys in the Himalaya that offer peace and refuge in times of crisis.Pradhan returns after an eight-year hiatus with Sacred Realms, marking his ninth solo exhibition. He combines Nepal's landscapes, cityscapes, culture, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/we-have-not-respected-the-fragility-of-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fragility</a> into an ultimate form of self-expression."Development and the climate crisis have changed the landscape of my childhood home," Pradhan explains, "I wish to spread and preserve its memory through my paintings."He records his experiences through nostalgic strokes and altered colours. Indian red reminiscent of the disappearing slopes of Mustang and floors of Darbar Squares illuminate the landscapes of Pradhan's imagination.Pradhan uses his signature technique: watercolor application for acrylic painting which give his work depth typically found in pieces employing multiple art supplies."Writers write to fight for their cause. I paint for mine," says Pradhan, "Through trial and failure, I invented a way to texture my paintings to communicate my experiences better."<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639057fd9c7e80680e0ce180jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2304" height="1536">The muddy remains of a dried-up Fewa Lake is patiently layered acrylic in Fewa Lake Existing, and one can almost smell the lake bed. Inspired by an article about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokharas-shrinking-phewa-lake/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shrinking of Fewa lake</a>, he painted the gorge empty of water. Sapanako Dunga (Boat of Dreams) holds the Barahi temple in the composition as the climate threat and uncontrolled development tarnish the lake. Safe to say, he embraces intertextuality and intergenericity.In Natural Touch, a piece completed in 2020, Pradhan references Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Amidst the erosion of bright, beautiful colours, hands of rocks, some bare and some covered in green, touch."Nokia used Michelangelo's hands to symbolize human connection," he adds, "I painted his hands to symbolise our connection with nature."On either side, a temple and a Chorten stand aloof on top of mighty mountains. The connecting hands might also portray the harmony between Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal. Pradhan grew up with merging influences from both, and he communicates his nostalgia with surrealism, smearing watered-down white acrylic as clouds to create a dream-like haze.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058019c7e80680e0ce181jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1536" height="2304"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058059c7e80680e0ce182jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1011">Using modern practices, he tells the story of the disappearing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">traditional heritage</a>, transporting the viewer to the landscape of premonition through his form and dimension.The red-brick monuments of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Patan decay in Reflection Realms. Pradhan again uses clever, confident brush strokes to create texture in the decay lit by a golden sky. The puppet of Akash Bhairab, the god of death, stands out, blue in contrast to the striking yellow background.When Shiva, the destroyer, is angry, he is depicted as Bhairab who is said to protect the Valley in crisis. Pradhan shows the parallelism between the concept of Bhairab in Hinduism and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/building-back-a-beyul-in-tsum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Beyul</a> in Buddhism.This subliminal spirituality is also also depicted Intangible Realms, a 48x48 inch painting in which a fiery palate overwhelms the scenery, drowning out the green of the trees. The tall mountains appear to be an illusion behind the burning branches.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022120710128/639058099c7e80680e0ce183jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1536" height="2304">Pradhan's subconscious overpowers his actual vision resulting in a dreamscape. He says, "I meditate when I am painting, I find my subconscious and express myself in dye."Pradhan, who painted most of the 'Sacred Realm' art during a Covid quarantine, obtained relief from all the negative news through art. He recalled and transferred the blue-green landscapes he witnessed in his 2016 Annapurna Circuit Trek into canvases."I hope the audience feels the same emotion I felt when I first experienced my Beyul through eco-paintings," Pradhan says, "We should think about our impact on nature."Sacred environments are not places to escape the world, but to enter it more deeply. Pradhan, who experienced the era where the locals and visitors <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-delta-of-kama/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">treated heritage and nature with reverence</a>, knows all too well the interrelationship between the two."Every Beyul is located in the lap of nature in Nepal," says Pradhan. "We artists convey ourselves through collections that take years to complete. I hope to start a dialogue for a progressive future."Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lights-shadows-and-space/">Lights, shadows and space</a>, Ashish Dhakal

Expressing culture and nature in eco-art

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/637234099c7e80680e0c4911jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="2348"/><figcaption>Photo: ASHISH DHAKAL.</figcaption></figure>Siddhartha Art Gallery is once again alive with a vibrant colour palette, meticulously textured on canvas, depicting stunning expressions of devotion and dedication to art, inspiration and shakti.Renowned <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/Manandhar-fourth-exhibit-Nepal,2641" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">artist Kiran Manandhar</a>’s latest show ‘Samarpan’ – his first in four years – adds a delectable frenzy of red, orange, blue, black and white to the space. The gap in between the canvases sit like columns or bars, as though the frames were each a window and the viewers were staring directly into the eyes of providence.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/6372340d9c7e80680e0c4912jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="654"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/637234109c7e80680e0c4913jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="621">Photos: SAGAR MANANDHARIt is immediately difficult to group these artworks in a single genre. The softer lines and sharper angles are balanced by almost distinct faces. The curves of eyes, lips and limbs are bracketed by amorphous flames and shadows. There is a certain vagueness about the paintings – like the waves and ripples one sees in rivers or the sea – and the deities, Kali, Brahmayani, Kumari, Vaishnavi,  Ganesh, Seto and Rato Machhindranath, look abstract enough, but Manandhar will not relent so easily.“I am like a bird,” he says sitting under a parasol outside the gallery, as a sparrow skips across the courtyard paved with bricks on to a nearby bush. “I don’t make art saying one style or another, I like to hop from one branch to another, from one tree to another."Manandhar jokes that birds do not need visas to fly around. This desire for no restriction, to dissolve borders (at least in art) is strikingly conspicuous in ‘Samarpan’. Stylistically diverse, the paintings and a couple charcoal drawings even transcend philosophies and the various global schools of art. Influences of the European masters, for instance, blend in with the traditional Nepali figures, iconography and style.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/637234139c7e80680e0c4914jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3976" height="2352"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/637234179c7e80680e0c4915jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2523" height="2478"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nature and light also create an overall dream-like impression. Perhaps this ever-moving effect produced may be explained by Manandhar’s own drive to understand what art is. He is not being coy when he candidly admits, “Even after all these years, I still don’t know what a painting is.” This admission sums up his oeuvre.In fact, it is also an expression of the phenomenological conundrum: can one ever truly understand a concept or craft absolutely? Perhaps when one knows what painting is entirely, one does not need to paint anymore, but Manandhar has no intention of stopping. He describes the itch to make art, even at odd hours and places: working to figure out, to develop one’s skills and understanding:“I cannot stop,” he says, “My wish is to paint, to take Nepal’s name everywhere.”An evidence of this is ‘Samarpan’ which may appear at the outset to be very different from what the general public has come to take Manandhar’s modern and abstract works in the past. Abstract art, after all, has roots in indigenous and folk art.There is much variety here and the paintings do not want to be tied down to a particular adjective or movement. They are themselves in motion instead, to show the world and other artists, especially young ones, just how much there is to do.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/6372341b9c7e80680e0c4916jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="2279"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>‘Samarpan’ is the fruit of labour of four year and a couple paintings go far back as 2016. Much of the work was made during the Covid-19 pandemic and the title refers to  the dedication, the offering made to art, to inspiration, to the many artists who were compelled to give up by the pandemic and the constraints it invited, and to Nepal which Manandhar so lovingly calls ‘devbhumi’ – land of gods.To call them patriotic or nationalistic would be missing the point, for this presupposes borders which Manandhar wishes to bring down. While the gods depicted are Nepali in essence, the art is an homage, a look towards the past and the traditions. It is also a representation of a spiritual landscape and the power of divine inspiration. After all, who can traverse boundaries and partitions as easily as the gods?<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/6372341e9c7e80680e0c4917jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="3008"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/art-for-a-cause/">Artists have to be sensitive</a>,” he adds, “We have to be observant and thoughtful.” But he admits it is not easy being one. Many artists, he says, especially young, are compelled to give up because there is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6263#.Yvy_xH1ByJB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">no immediate ‘sound and effect’</a> result in art.He recalls speaking to other artists who are now abroad and no longer painting, who lament the lack of support and opportunities in Nepal. “One works for as long as one can,” he says. “Which is why a good support system is necessary that brings together artists, educators and patrons.”SamarpanBy Kiran ManandharSiddhartha Art Gallery.Baber Mahal RevisitedOpen 11:00AM – 5:00PMTill 24 August 2022.

Ashish Dhakal

Art for art's sake

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372185f9c7e80680e0baa3bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1334"/><figcaption>"The old man with young hands iii", 2019, Pen and ink on paper. Photos: MONIKA DEUPALA.</figcaption></figure>Sitting cross-legged in the dappled light under a tree outside the Siddhartha Art Gallery, his hand resting on a knee and wearing a black baseball cap, Samridh Mukhiya says, “I am a conceptual artist.”Inside the gallery the walls are lined with canvases in which Mukhiya has sketched pieces plucked delicately from his consciousness. Black ink on white fields give the impression of freshness, the spaces between the lines are mysterious and inviting with leitmotifs: bubbles, wells, trees, machines spewing smoke in the air, geometric shapes, strings.Born to artist Tek Bir Mukhiya who is renowned for his cover designs for many books by Sajha Publications – such as Parijat’s Shiris ko Phool and Devkota’s Muna Madan – Mukhiya, 35, admits, “I tend to use metaphors a lot.”Indeed, the artworks in the exhibition range from representations of quantum physics to political allegory, from mental health to the zodiac. And the result is as diverse as it is concise, without a hint of self-indulgence – even in the surreal Things I am grateful for, which was completed in 2018 as part of the series Mantra.A giant oval face with closed eyes is supported on both sides by two hands. The face is sliced like a clean loaf of bread, but the face is unflinching and content. More hands, bonier, hold it up from below: one clutching withered flowers while another appears to be pulling at a loose fabric of skin.But the drawing is not violent, representing instead people who have had presence in Mukhiya’s life.“I wanted to show how, even with their own problems, people hold on to us and support us,” explains Mukhiya.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218629c7e80680e0baa3cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="2000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Elsewhere, a humanoid machine, complete with a dizzying assortment of cogs and wheels and four legs, looks at itself in a mirror, while its other hand carries a sleeping child.Mukhiya explains that this is simple thought exploration of collective consciousness: “I wonder if in future humanity, instead of evolving, transfers its consciousness onto machines.”The new pilgrim (2012) is more than a sci-fi study: it is also a commentary on present society where humans are encouraged to emulate machines and be mechanical and efficient.Apparatus (2019), a charcoal on paper explores the deficiencies of systemic rote in education. In what looks like an old, black-and-white class photograph, students and teachers sit in rows, dressed in blazers. A spool of thread twists around them, like prison bars.But here’s a twist: the students have nails and screws instead of heads. The heads of the teachers are hammers. This is a haunting piece that speaks for itself.At once spiritual and scientifically curious, Sapana (2015) is reminiscent of the films by Terry Gilliam where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred to the extent that one seamlessly blends into another. A sleeping figure’s mind wanders in fragments to a dreamscape as a gust of wind blows a flurry of leaves that loop around the canvas before finally settling on another tree at the centre.So much is happening. In the right-top corner, a recently dispossessed bird takes flight with its eyes set on a floating well. A door opens as a cloud of smoke – or are they waves? – billow in the background. Bubbles fly about in silence, like atoms or little pockets of the universe.Mukhiya explains, “The physical universe outside us is infinite, we can see only a small part. And if we pause and look within, we can see that the universe in us, which is our consciousness, is just as vast and endless.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218669c7e80680e0baa3djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1131" height="1750"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Mukhiya’s cerebral work is a testament to his lifelong fascination with life and the interaction between our consciousness and the socio-cultural stage. SAPANA is his 15th show overall and he is not trying to show life the way it is, giving shape to a creative process influenced by discourses on mental health, multiverses, memories. He was most recently part of the 'Crème de le Crème 2020' juried exhibition by Visual Arts Guild of Frisco in Texas.“I think a lot, no matter where I am or what I am doing,” the artist confesses. “And I do not draw or paint to simply draw or paint. I look for a story, an idea, I create narratives, some of which take years to incubate until the right form appears.”SAPANA is the result of this meditation, an explosive mix of strangeness and calm, like the notion of cosmological singularity or the Big Bang.SAPANAby Samridh MukhiyaSiddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal RevisitedMonday - Friday: 11am -5pmSunday: 12pm - 5pmTill 24th May 2022

The imaginarium of Samridh Mukhiya

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13489c7e80680e0a9915jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3360" height="2240"/><figcaption>All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>A vast circle is crammed with densely packed houses stacked on top of one another. Drawn in black ink, their edges merge as they jostle in space.The narrow strips between the houses have fluid shadows, but in the middle of this urban universe is a white hole. “That is a doughnut,” says a visitor, at the Siddhartha Art Gallery where artist Sujan Dangol’s meticulous line drawings are on display at the <a href="https://www.siddharthaartgallery.com/exhibition-events/342-tale-of-a-city-invitation">Tales of a City exhibition</a> till the end of the month.“I cannot impose my concepts or ideas on viewers, their interpretation is just as genuine and appropriate because they view it subjectively as their own background, thoughts and feelings come into play,” Dangol explains in his studio in Koteshwor. Light bounces off his round glasses as the 40-year-old artist's gaze turns to the large window on his left.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d134b9c7e80680e0a9916jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3024" height="4032"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The studio is an open space with sofas, bookstands and tables about. In one corner is a large painting — “A friend is working on that one,” Dangol says — and metal and clay sculptures sit on various shelves. He is dressed in a long, brown corduroy shirt, and his hand hangs above a work in progress: another large canvas, nearly filled to the brim with tiny houses and streets.It is clear that the drawings depict the tremendous transformation that has turned Kathmandu Valley’s rich urban-agro civilisation into <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19765#.YZDL21VByJA">a concrete jungle</a>. Dangol’s sketches represent dizzying, densely packed towns with teetering temples and dilapidated homes, almost like a cartoon, or satire.For Dangol, art is a three-point collaboration between an artist, the object and the viewers who exist in the space between the abstract and the real. The experience is incomplete even when only one of the three is missing. The drawings feel at once familiar and foreign — the sprawling urbanscape is part of our daily lives, but they have also acquired an almost metaphysical aspect.A giant vajra, for example, looks as though wrapped in a shawl of windows and roofs — and Dangol invites the viewers to fill in the gaps, recognise and rediscover their own stories.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d134e9c7e80680e0a9917jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3360" height="2240">Sujan Dangol grew up in Mahabouddha near the Kathmandu Darbar Square when the historical towns of this emerald valley were still located along ridges with the slopes down to the rivers below devoted to agriculture.“I still remember the sights, sounds and smells of eating rice on the balcony during the minpachas holiday in winter,” adds Dangol, lamenting that today none of the things he used to enjoy as a child are accessible or possible.The concrete canopy of houses block out the sun, there are no public open spaces for children to run around in, there is the ever-present din of the city’s perpetual motion machine.These feelings of loss and nostalgia permeate all of Dangol’s exhibits. The artworks are rigorous and complex: each cityscape is meticulously drawn in pen and ink, filled with stark emotional and intellectual intensity. He recreates history and architecture in a visual language that is uniquely his, built on the bedrock of his own memories and infused with elements of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-legend-behind-the-myth-of-indra-jatra/">folklore</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13529c7e80680e0a9918jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1475" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Big Bell is a rendition of the one that stands in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/good-as-old-after-two-earthquakes/">Patan Darbar Square</a>, but its base is crammed with little houses and temples. Dark hills stretch behind, and at the feet of the monument are slabs that look like funeral ghat with black blobs spread about them.It is an ominous piece, foreboding. The sun casts a shadow behind itself and, on closer look, the roofs are bare and have holes in them with wooden beams poking out. The bell itself looks weary, the roof above it is worn out, and it is almost like a deep sigh escapes this 38x48 inch-frame with an overwhelming sense of loss.The other drawings evoke similar pathos. Carved Malla-era windows stand next to neoclassical doors, and somewhere in the middle are tall, flat and bare walls. But between them the galli is quiet and temple eaves have come undone. The ever-watchful eyes on the stupas look aged and tired, perhaps by the desolation they have witnessed.With the touch of pen and ink, Dangol reinvents a visual vernacular of memory and loss. But Dangol does not want the messaging to be too direct or blatant. He says: “I am not a heavily conceptual artist … if I start a piece with too much intention, it disrupts my workflow.”https://youtu.be/eF4hwcbBhsAProud of his Newa heritage, Dangol aspires to develop a new grammar for Nepali contemporary art that builds on the culture and skills that he grew up around and the relics of which are still present. There is no western influence here: the styles are borrowed from gardeners, woodcarvers, tailors, masons and brick-layers, and also the struts, carved windows and exteriors of abandoned buildings.“The cross-hatching in my drawings are inspired by my wife’s straw mats,” says Dangol. Miniature installations featuring straw mats and seeds by his wife, Sharmila Shrestha are also on exhibit in Tales of a City.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13559c7e80680e0a9919jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3360" height="2240">Sujan Dangol traces the origin of this series to 2012, when as his graduation installation he built a city of 1,500 cardboard boxes and cartons of various brand names in the Nepal Art Council. The installation was complete with streets and roads that people could walk through and interact with. Architecture and heritage have since heavily influenced his art and outlook.“It takes over 500 or 1,000 years to build and develop an urban civilisation, and nurture its language, heritage, culture and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/exploring-nepals-culinary-diversity/">cuisine</a>,” says Dangol. “But when I look at Kathmandu today, I am saddened by the changes in the last 20-30 years, and especially following the 2015 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lessons-not-learned-from-2015/">earthquake</a>. This is not normal. Development and progress should be gradual, not disorganised.”Houses, says Dangol, are not just places of residence. The traditional brick, timber and tiles of the buildings with their carved wooden columns, windows and doors represent an <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/saving-the-intangible,3303">invaluable legacy and expression</a> of craft, history, experience and expectations that span generations.“Individual houses are just as important as temples,” he says. And a street of houses has a collective ambience, so <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deconstructing-reconstruction/">heritage conservation</a> must look beyond just monuments to these ordinary neighbourhoods and their old dwellings that are being torn down to be replaced with concrete.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13599c7e80680e0a991ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The bahal, falcha and hiti are being overrun with selfishness and greed, the accelerated consumerism and obsession with money do not value the history and heritage of Swoinga, Kathmandu Valley.Being passionate about literature, art and architecture, Dangol says depicting these changes in his drawings is an outlet for his aggravation with the accelerated and irreversible change happening all around.One particularly gloomy drawing is Kalki that depicts the deity, one of the ten avatar of Vishnu, with fiery hair and wings, riding a leaping horse above a city as contrails swirl behind him. Kalki looks straight at the viewer with a deeply unsettling expression on his face — the rage in his eyes is shared by his horse which has a chain of skulls looping around his neck.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d135e9c7e80680e0a991bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="849" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kalki is associated with destruction, and is the prophesied incarnation of Vishnu at the end of the current Kali Yug cycle of existence in Hindu cosmology. The destruction is followed by Satya Yug, when the chaos and darkness end.This is an important metaphor in Dangol’s drawing: destruction looming over a city, heritage on the verge of extinction. But, at the same time, Kalki is also the harbinger of cleansing and renewal.The exhibition ‘Tale of a City’ is open until 29 November at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisted, Kathmandu.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18013#.YZDNdlVByJA">Whose heritage is it anyway?</a>, Marit Bakke<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/a-time-to-every-purpose-occupation,3023">A time to every purpose</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/restoring-a-piece-of-nepals-history/">Restoring a piece of Nepal's history</a>, Sahina Shrestha

Between the lines with Sujan Dangol

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd97c9c7e80680e092ea2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600"/>Sravasti Ghosh Dastidar’s photographic exhibition ‘Soul in Shades’ at Siddhartha Art Gallery was pushed back by one year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is finally being inaugurated on 26 March, just as Nepal’s health authorities are once again on high alert for the second wave coming from India.Dastidar is originally from Kolkata, and is well-travelled, having lived in Mumbai, Colombo, Manila and Brunei. She has curated her own photography from all her globe-trotting for this week-long exhibition that reaches the viewer with powerful dreamlike images.The photographs use stark black and white to play with symmetry and shadow that force us to see soaring human-made structures and nature’s grandeur in new light.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd97f9c7e80680e092ea3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="182" height="242"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9819c7e80680e092ea4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="791" height="537"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9839c7e80680e092ea5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="313" height="462">Dastidar’s command of the craft shows in the deft way that she turns everyday objects into striking visuals that force the viewer to do a double take. The wraith-like image of a trapeze artists in a circus in St Petersburg (Undaunted), masks peering out of a shop window (Watching), a canoe floating on a winter morning in Chitwan (Mist 2), or of a lonely person in the slanting beams of a public building in Hong Kong (Hope) – the photographs give us a new way of contemplating objects that we take for granted.“Her compositions reveal her fascination with texture, the play of light and shadow, the incongruous geometry of shapes, architecture and angles,” says Siddhartha Art Gallery’s Sangeeta Thapa. “In many of her works we see the loneliness of people in urban settings.”Indeed, some of the photographs are of solitary individuals – negotiating a subway, out on a boat, or that one person in a crowd ascending an escalator. The power of these images forces us not just to look, but ponder the border between reality and imagination.‘Soul in Shades’ will be exhibited till 2 April at Siddhartha and will give visitors in Kathmandu a chance to savour images through which Dastidar takes us on a journey of the soul. We visit different parts of the world, a world that is now compartmentalised by the pandemic, and see how even in teeming crowds we are individuals with unique minds, bodies – and souls.It is hard to say whether photography is a hobby or a full time passion for Dastidar, who is founding partner of Copytous Media and a SEO-based Content Writing and Research Specialist. ‘Stories in Reflection’ is a series of her blank greeting cards that can be found on Instagram and on her Facebook page – Sravasti’s Words &amp; Images, crafted into signature greeting cards.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9869c7e80680e092ea6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="949" height="636">“In a world becoming increasingly digital, I hope that the cards will help us to touch each other’s lives in a way we have almost forgotten,” says Dastidar. “A personalised handwritten note is always more special and connects us in a deeper way.”Photography started as a hobby and graduated to a passion. Her travels added further to this obsession with photography. Sravasti’s photographs and articles have been featured in leading Sri Lankan magazines. She has a Masters in English Literature from Calcutta University and a Bachelors in Education.Fellow photographer from Kolkata, Mala Mukherjee says of Dastidar’s photography: “I am pleasantly surprised by the freshness of her work, the neatness of the compositions, and the variety and novelty of the subjects she selects.”Viewers in Kathmandu will get to enjoy these perspectives at ‘Soul in Shades’.Soul in ShadesExhibition of Photographs by Sravasti Ghosh Dastidar26 March – 2 AprilSiddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited

Playing with symmetry and shadow

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2dd9c7e80680e08f938jpeg.jpg" alt="Jagdish Moktan exhibition"/><figcaption>Jagdish Moktan works with soil to paint his memory.</figcaption></figure>After nearly a year of closure, Siddhartha Art Gallery is putting up two new shows. Jagdish Moktan’s <a href="http://www.siddharthaartgallery.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=category&amp;layout=blog&amp;id=42&amp;Itemid=73" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Way Home is Away from Home and Priyanka Singh Maharjan’s In the Realm of Recollections </a>showcase art they worked on during the pandemic.The artists received the Himalayan Light Art Scholarship Awards, a joint grant created by Chinese artist Zhao Jianqui and Siddhartha Art Gallery’s Director, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/sangeeta-thapa-siddhartha-art-gallery,1999" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sangeeta Thapa</a>.Although both Moktan and Maharjan have taken part in group shows at their university’s  <a href="http://kuart.edu.np/bfa-show-at-art-council/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BFA exhibitions</a>, <a href="https://angkor-photo.com/apf-programme/the-passage-of-time-and-what-remains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Angkor Photo Festival and</a> <a href="http://www.kochimuzirisbiennale.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kochi Biennale</a>, they were very anxious about the reception they would receive in Nepal. “When you work on your own, you have to be your own judge. But when the work gets on display for viewers, the anticipation is somewhat different,” Moktan said after the inauguration at Baber Mahal Revisited last week.There is an array of Moktan’s 108 frames of charcoal on paper along the walls at the Siddhartha Art Gallery. The series is called ‘Fragmented Clouds’, and depict skies hemmed in by densely-packed buildings where the clouds are reflected on window panes. <figure><img width="1447" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2e09c7e80680e08f939jpeg.jpg" alt="Jagdish Moktan's reflection of clouds"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Crammed in my room in Bhaktapur during the lockdown, looking from one window to another, I often wondered how it might be to see beautiful clouds from my ancestral hometown in Ramechhap,” he says. “Although I was born and brought up in Kathmandu, my sense of belonging has always been associated with Ramechhap.”Moktan calls his work an attempt to explore his feelings of alienation, and finding the road home. The art is unrestricted in form of medium, and consists of realistic portraits in oils and coloured soil—faces he paints from memory, exploring his relation to his ancestral home.While Moktan's works on the ground floor showcase his hyper-realistic vision, the first floor of the gallery also carries the theme of ‘home’, but to a polar opposite level. Maharjan’s exhibit, ‘In the Realms of Recollection’, is grounded in nostalgia out of which she weaves patterns.Maharjan creates art out of memory, scanning old family images, and transferring them on to fabric. She picks a set of black and white images, and embroiders on them, the variations of different stitches amplifying her own experiences of those memories.   “I learned hand embroidery from my grandmother. My father, who was working in Hong Kong then, often sent pictures via posts. Those photos and my grandmother’s embroidery skills have always been close to my heart,” says Maharjan.Her work transforms the ceiling into an amalgamation of images and colourful stitches that instantly embrace the visitor in the warmth, associated with the idea of home. She was studying chartered accountancy and increasingly unsure about her career path, when a friend suggested applying to Kathmandu University.  <figure><img width="750" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2e49c7e80680e08f93ajpeg.jpg" alt="Priyanka Maharjan exhibition"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>While the two exhibitions are juxtapositions in terms of projection, thematically, they converge in their sense of belonging. While Maharjan accumulates an abundance of family memories, Moktan pursues the idea of a distant home.  <figure><img width="942" height="1291" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2e79c7e80680e08f93bjpeg.jpg" alt="Priyanka Maharjan exhibition Siddhartha Art Gallery"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Himalayan Light Art Award tries to give space to emerging artists in Nepal with the potential to go big with an original personal style. Prithvi Shrestha, Lavakant Chaudhary, Man Gurung and Subhas Tamang are artists who have been recipients of the scholarship in the past.The Foundation’s Justin Zhao says, “Through this scholarship, we want the artists to hone their skills and help them organise exhibitions.”Sangeeta Thapa of Siddhartha Art Gallery wishes there were platforms like the Himalayan Lights Scholarships when she was an aspiring artist herself.  “As an art curator, my job is to see the potential in the artists and display their work. It is about promoting these budding artists and making them known to the viewers,” Thapa told Nepali Times. She adds that Maharjan and Moktan’s works are representations of how the two artists worked through the lockdown and amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic.  Being sequestered at home for such a long period may have inspired them to create new versions of ‘home’.  The Way Home is Away from Home and In the Realm of Recollections will be on exhibit at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited, till 15 February 2021.

Memories of home

<figure><img width="1280" height="588" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be7769c7e80680e087800jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photos: JEROME EDOU</figcaption></figure>Jerome Edou’s monochrome ink exhibition A Single Brushstroke marks the first physical exhibition at Siddhartha Art Gallery in nine months. Nepali Times got a glimpse as Edou and director/curator Sangeeta Thapa were busy making final preparations ahead of its opening on 11 December.Chan paintings or Zen in Japanese, are inspired by the Chinese Contemplative Buddhist Chan school and are characterised by the Qi—the Sanskrit prana that means vital energy— the simplicity, the suggestion, and the emptiness of life and nature. With only a few brushstrokes, Chan painters seek to express the inspiration of nature through their paintings rather than imitating and reproducing nature, or delving into much detail and technicality. The lack of colours plays into the simplicity of the painting, as the monochrome style removes all noises from the artwork. Painters use a lot of empty space to visually express the silence of nature.Chan painters use Chinese paper, water, ink, and about 10 different brushes—made from different animal hair. “Brushes made from goat hair are almost watery and not very strong, unlike those made from the hair of wild horses,” says Edou. Chan painters also make their own ink, which the Chinese papers absorb very quickly. “It’s a complicated process,” he adds. <figure><img width="1280" height="764" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be7789c7e80680e087801jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There is no discernible style or theme to Edou’s paintings—he paints brooding cliffs, beautiful flowers, sprawling landscapes. An entire wall is dedicated to bamboo paintings. Bamboo shoot contains a fragment of the universe, say a couple of his paintings. In fact, bamboo is an integral part of training in Chan paintings. “In Zen painting, the bamboo is really the first exercise that shows the subtlety, simplicity, and the resilience of life. Some painters have been doing bamboo all their lives. I love it because it has a certain magnificence and simplicity to it,” says Edou. “Before moving up to birds, or landscape, you constantly paint what we call the Four Gentlemen, which are chrysanthemum, bamboo, plum trees, and orchids.” <img width="608" height="1280" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be77b9c7e80680e087802jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="1000" height="1119" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be77d9c7e80680e087803jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Years worth of work are on display across two floors of the gallery. Edou jokes that it took him 15 years, as well as 10 minutes to complete all his paintings. “15 years of practice and 10 minutes to actually do the painting, the paintings themselves are done very quickly, but they require extensive training.” he explains.Edou studied Buddhism intensively and is a translator of Tibetan texts and teachings. But hadn’t delved into paintings until he was 55 when discovered Chan paintings by chance in France as he was exploring Chinese calligraphy. For the next 10 years, he learned to make Chan paintings at the International Academy of Ink Painting in South France. After graduating in 2018, he began teaching ink painting himself. A symbol stamped in red is striking against the minimalist, contemplative, sometimes bleak monochrome of Edou’s paintings. It is his seal, inspired from an 11th century Chinese practice. He has added calligraphy too in some of his works. He has built his crevice of a rock, his mind is at large, says one artwork—a Chen saying in western calligraphy. Going to see the silence—another one says in French. “I was trying to see if it works, and if there is a style to be found there,” he adds.One of the paintings that he did at the academy has seven seals, put there by his friends and teachers. “It was partly a joke, but it was also recognition of our achievements that we put in each other’s paintings,” he notes. <img width="1000" height="1792" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be7809c7e80680e087804jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="1103" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be7839c7e80680e087805jpeg.jpg" alt="">But why aren’t the seals stamped to the back of the painting instead of the front? Edou smiles and thinks for a moment. “For that I have no answer,” he says. “For one thing, the seals become a part of the painting, and for another, the precise pattern makes a contrast to the suggestive nature of the paintings.”A painting of Buddhist prayer flags titled Gone With the Wind is very close to his heart. One can almost hear the flags fluttering silently in a breeze. “I never managed to do another one like this,” Edou reflects. “I like it because it is my own inspiration, not something I reproduced.”Edou reflects on the small community of Chan painters, and the relative anonymity of the art form. “This practice is outside the mainstream,” he says, and that the idea was never to be a professional or to make a living out of it. “We are often called eccentrics, and cut off from academic circles. But eccentricity means thinking outside the box, being more concerned about inspiration and less about the technique or style. And I like being eccentric,” he adds, laughing.Despite the Covid crisis still looming large, Sangeeta Thapa is set on going ahead with socially distanced exhibition after being shut for almost a year. “If I’m not hopeful, I might as well shut down this place and wait until the vaccine is here. But people have started to go to malls and restaurants," she says. "Why should art have to suffer? The art must survive. Livelihoods must go on.”  Jerome Edou's A Single Brushstroke opens at Siddhartha Art Gallery on 11 December and ends on 10 January.

A Single Brushstroke

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181120/636be2269c7e80680e083e90jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Narayanhiti Palace Museum reopens after eight month long closure during the Covid-19 crisis. Photos: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Since March, Nepal’s museum curators have been in deep despair due to the extended Covid-19 lockdown, and the ban on public gatherings.But finally, some museums opened their doors from Sunday after the Cabinet decision to allow visitors into the facilities. Especially benefiting from this will be children who have also <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/some-schools-re-open-in-remote-rural-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not been able to go to physical classes</a> for most of 2020.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/patans-museum-piece/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan Museum</a>, Nepal’s world-renowned establishment and a premier repository of Hindu-Buddhist devotional art, is set to reopen later this week.“We are really excited about reopening, without visitors, a museum is dead,” says Suresh Lakhe of Patan Museum, who is working on a temporary photographic exhibition in collaboration with the Kartik Nach Preservation Committee that will also be open to the public this week.The closure of museums like Patan, Chhauni, or the International Mountaineering Museum in Pokhara has also meant a loss of revenue, and financial strain in the upkeep of the facilities. All museums have adopted health protocols with limits on the number of visitors in the display areas, open windows, as well as mandatory masks.Since the government gave the green signal, the Nepal National Museum in Chhauni opened to the public on 20 November, but there were not too many visitors since most did not know about it.On Sunday, the Narayanhiti Palace Museum also reopened with vistors allowed into <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendras-family-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shree Sadan</a>, the private residence of King Birendra, for the first time in 20 years.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181120/636be2299c7e80680e083e91jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181120/636be22c9c7e80680e083e92jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181120/636be22f9c7e80680e083e93jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427">There is a lot of anticipation about the opening of the new wing where King Birendra lived with Queen Aishwarya and Prince Nirajan and Princess Shruti. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/royal-massacre-Nepal-15-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">All four were killed in the 2001 palace massacre</a>.The rooms have been kept intact, just as they were on 1 June 2001. Prince Nirajan’s room still has his college class timetable stuck to the wall, the alcove bar has a bottle of the king’s favourite brandy, and the cot where Birendra’s favourite dog slept is exactly where it was 20 years ago.Museum chief Bhesh Narayan Dahal and his team have worked right through the lockdown to make Shree Sadan ready for public viewing. There were up to 150 people waiting in queue even before the museum opened its doors on Sunday morning at 10am.Said Dahal: “Public response so far has been phenomenal, and there are more people interested in Shree Sadan than the main Narayanhiti Museum.”Although the government has also allowed art galleries and exhibitions to restart, some are not taking any chances yet because of the sustained surge in coronavirus cases in Kathmandu Valley.At <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nepali-times-buzz/taragaon-museum-boudha,1609" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taragaon Museum</a>, Roshan Mishra’s hands are full. He is busy with the archives, documentation, and renovation of the museum that is run by the Saraf Foundation. He says he is in no rush to reopen the exhibition space, keeping in mind the risk it might bring to the visitors as well as employees.“If we open the museum now, we’ll just have about three to four people walking in every day and it’s not really feasible, so our focus is more on documentation and archives until we reopen possibly in January,” says Mishra.The lockdown has actually been a blessing in disguise to curators like Mishra who would otherwise be too busy for research, and design new shows.Even though the museums were locked up for eight months, staff there also worked on renovation and maintenance. The National Museum in Chhauni has finally finished reconstruction of a wing that was damaged in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2015/05/27/a-month-that-felt-like-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 2015 earthquake</a>.“It’s time we get back to operations, this is the new normal, and for how long can we stay idle?” asks Jayaram Shrestha of the Chhauni museum. “The Cabinet decision was good, better late than never.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2339c7e80680e083e94jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1724" height="894"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Keeping in mind the Covid crisis, mandatory precautions will be put in place such as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/prevention-while-searching-for-a-cure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wearing masks, hand washing and sanitisation</a>. The museums are required to be decontaminated every morning and evening. Visitors are also required to maintain physical distance, and at Shree Sadan, for example, only 10 people will be allowed to enter certain sections of the museums at one time.In Pokhara, International Mountain Museum has been receiving 10 to 20 queries every day about when it will reopen. Shankar Bahadur Gautam at the museum says, “This is such a huge relief, museums are for gaining knowledge and have an educational function. So, if we strictly follow the Covid protocols, there is no harm to re-open.”Siddhartha Art Gallery at Baber Mahal Revisited has been shut since March, and did not opt for online exhibitions like other galleries. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/sangeeta-thapa-siddhartha-art-gallery,1999" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Siddhartha’s Sangeeta Thapa</a> explains: “Collective viewing and physical presence is important for the visual arts and the difference between government museums and private art galleries is that museums are bigger and can ensure physical distancing. We do not have that kind of space, and we cannot compromise on the safety of the artists, our gallery staff, and the visitors.”The gallery is planning to open its doors by mid-January with an exhibition of artists Jagadish Moktan and Priyanka Singh Maharjan. Thapa is also gearing up for the mammoth <a style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/art-on-the-city-kathmandu-triennale,3607" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu Triennale</a> that was to begin next month, but has been postponed to 26 October-26 November 2021.Thapa adds: "Since the festival is for both locals and the international community, we cannot take the risk now. Which is why it has been postponed till next year.”

Nepal museums reopen after 8 months

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.