The Nepal Chapterv

KATHMANDU, FEB 07 – One has a sense of foreboding as one stands beneath a tangle of heads and nerves and jugulars, meticulously arranged by an artist—Meena Kayastha, in this case—along a narrow corridor-like space towards the main entrance of the Siddhartha Art Gallery in Babarmahal. The expressions on these mask-like faces are forlorn, still as death. Early Consciousness, Kayastha’s musings on our inhabitation of space, feels disconcerting to be a part of, and yet it is universally appealing in its expression of the human mind’s attempt to make sense of the world.

 

The installation might very well be a great way for anyone to begin their tour of Earth| Body| Mind—The Nepal Chapter, an exhibition of works by Nepali artists that were part of the KIAF 2012, the second Kathmandu International Art Festival that took place in Kathmandu from November 21-December 21 last year, for it imparts a sense of discomfort to both the mind and the eye, something that any discussion on environmental crises should be able to elicit. KIAF 2012 was not only about art, it was also about activism, environmental activism in particular, and it lent artworks that were part of it a particular tone; that of being, in one way or the other, conceptualised and built around environmental concerns, something that Early Consciousness, to me, epitomises.