To Build a Shelter is an act of faith, hope and perseverance. One begins with simple tools and materials, laying one brick after another to create a sanctuary for oneself and others. The path of an artist is parallel to this practice, as one layers one’s experiences, perspectives and hopes in order to build stories from mundane materials.
The artists in the exhibition embody the notion of a shelter in its spontaneity and its impermanence through stories of home, memory and place. Through diverse mediums ranging from printmaking, ceramics, traditional Paubha painting to embroidery, and more, the artists reveal reflections of their lived experiences within the gendered, socio-economic and cultural context of Nepal. While some investigate the cultural and spatial relationships to animals and birds, others look into the memory of household objects and spaces. Others still delve into inner landscapes, and the motifs and symbols they carry. While some works invite a deeper reflection into everyday gestures and habits, Others trace the paths of people and spaces that have passed by.
The works present personal interpretations of the larger cultural and social factors that drive change. They carry an undercurrent of the challenges of cultural loss, urbanization, migration and gender. Within this, the works act as artistic documentation of the intangible memories, experiences and humaneness. Together, the exhibition reveals contemporary concerns of artists working within the Nepali context as they transform their personal, social and cultural realities into spaces of shelter and kinship.
Curator,
Pooja Duwal
