Kathmandu Triennale 2077: the intersection of contemporary art, folk art and craft

The fourth editionof the Kathmandu Triennale, titled Kathmandu Triennale 2077, ran an exclusively online programme between 11 and 28 February 2022, opening its five physical venues to the public on 1 March. Aimed at creating a “healthy art ecology” based on the exchange of knowledge through its diverse exhibition as well as its educational and public outreach programmes, the Kathmandu Triennale is mainly organised by the Siddhartha Arts Foundation (SAF).

KT2077, supported by its Partner Institution Para Site in Hong Kong, is headed by Artistic Director Cosmin Costinas with co-curators Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, all deeply interested in redefining the borders of what constitutes ‘art’ and other indigenous crafts. KT2077 is the largest edition to date, with more than 100 participating artists and collectives from 40 countries, and 300 works across five historically and culturally significant venues in the city. The spaces include the Patan Museum, a UNESCO world heritage site and former royal residence of the Malla dynasty; the 18th century Bahadur Shah Baithak school; Nepal Art Council; the recently restored Taragaon Museum, renowned as one of Nepal’s first modernist buildings; and Siddhartha Art Gallery.

The title Kathmandu Triennale 2077 references the Nepali Bikram Sambat calendar, in which the year 2077 is equivalent to 2020 in the Gregorian calendar — the original year for this fourth edition. The title carries an enourmous significance, acknowledging the resilience and perseverance in the face of advesirty (brought about by Covid-19), and representing the triennale as the result of a journey of humility and honesty, also reflected in the themes and artists in the exhibition.

At Patan Museum, Korakrit Arunanondchai and Alex Gvojic present No history in a room filled with people with funny names (2018), a video work engages with contemporary societal issues in Thailand, weaving narratives around the the globally followed rescue mission of the 13 boys who were stuck in a flooded cave in Northern Thailand. Through propaganda, religion, Royal myths, lingering Cold War politics in Southeast Asia, vernacular beliefs and power plays, the work creates new myths for popular consumption.

At the same venue is an example of traditional art.

Lok Chitrakar, one of the most prominent Paubha painters in Nepal today, has brought a painting on skin, Healing Lions (2019), representative of a tradition of Paubha painters acting as healers. Paubha artists work in a very intricate painterly tradition, older than Tibetan Thangka, and can take decades to complete a single large-scale painting, perhaps finishing only a few in one lifetime. Paubha painters also act as healers, in a subversion of prescribed caste roles, where painters are otherwise placed below brahminic healers. Here, self-taught Lok Chitrakarhe draws two sacred lions around an eruption of shingles on the skin of a sufferer, hoping that the power of these animals and the mineral pigments will help alleviate the pain.

At Nepal Art Council, traditional Mithila painting is on show through Madhumala Mandal, a painter from Danusha, in the outer Terai region of Nepal, who is a part of the Jankapur Women’s Development Center (JWDC) working to preserve and promote Mithila arts while empowering women and their traditional cultural practices. Her paintings, made with acrylic on Lokta paper, depict everyday life scenes, with narratives that draw inspiration from stories told by Mandal’s mother, who also taught her Mithila painting.

At the Taragaon Museum, an entire artist family (the mother, Mira Devi Dutta; the father, Bijay Kumar Dutta; and daugther, Priyanka Karna) present Sama Chakeva (2020-2021), which includes various clay sculptures traditionally used in Sama Chakeva, a festival celebrate the bond between sisters and brothers originating from the Mithila region of the subcontinent. The clay idols are traditionally submerged in the river at the end of the festival, on Kartik Purnima. Performative in nature, the festival sees families and communities come together to make clay sculptures, sing songs, folk theatre, and other activities. The festival comes from a legend about one of Lord Krishna’s daugthers, Sama, who had been falsely accused of wrongdoing. Krishna punished her by turning her into a bird, but through the love and sacrifice of her brother, she was eventually allowed to return to her human form.

The Nepal Arts Council also features an unmissable film work by Kathmandu-based artist duo Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet, who engage with the histories of people, home and land. Entitled DADYAA (2016), the film was filmedin Chauki village, Jumla, in the mid-western region of Nepal, and follows an old couple, Atimaley and Devi, in their village haunted by memories. Faced with the departure of a dear friend, the couple confront a dilemma: to keep living with memories there or to leave the village for good.

In the film, the artists employ a variety of traditional elements that reference identity and memory, such as masks, referred to as ‘Baktyaa’ in the local Jumli dialect. Masks have a prominent role in the area’s culture, as well as in the practices of many ethnic communities across Nepal. In the Jumi dialect, the film title, ‘Dadyaa’, refers to wooden statues or effigies made as offerings to local deities. At times, they are also made in the memory of ancestors and are believed to ward off evil spirits. The artists were inspired by this tradition and the story of a Japanese woman who made dolls to fill up her village as it emptied of families.

In times of a major humanitarian crisis with the war in Ukraine, with people having to flee their homes, and not knowing if they will be able to return, DADYAA is a beautiful reminder of what makes us who we are—our memories, our histories, our land.

C. A. Xuân Mai Ardia

Kathmandu Triennale 2077 runs from 11 February to 31 March 2022, across venues in Kathmandu, Nepal.