Sandesh Shrestha
29 Aug, Kathmandu An exhibition of canvas paintings ‘Of Struggles and Dreams – A Homage to the People of Nepal’ is currently underway at the Siddhartha Art Gallery portraying the resilience of the Nepali people and their dreams in the face of the traumatic event of an earthquake.
The display of the artworks by Martin Travers, an international mural and street artist from South London, was not planned, but a stroke of serendipity. A total of 10 pieces of artworks are displayed at the exhibition – which will last until September 6 – and is a tribute to the people of Nepal and their resilience in the wake of unforgiving quakes. Some of the paintings are a collaborative venture between Travers and Nepali artist, Samundra Man Shrestha.
Travers initially applied for residency with the Kathmandu Centre for Contemporary Arts (KCAC) so that he could paint on canvas in a quiet seclusion. When the earthquake struck, Martin was at Langtang, witnessing the nature’s wrath first-hand.
He had to walk half way to Kathmandu and even dodged a couple of landslides nearly missing the group of travelers with him. “Even the walk back was a harrowing experience,” the artist shared. He added that the feeling of having survived was massive and that he had never experienced such a feeling before.
Martin says the earthquake changed his purpose of stay. He now wanted to bring into relief through painting the resilience of the people, and ‘the strength inside of us as human beings that is made to overcome serious adversities in life not just the earthquake’. “Throughout the paintings you will notice these elements,” he said.
Underlining art as one of the means to a healing process, Martin shared, “I thought it will fit in this situation, so I decided to stay and use my skills as a way that could be beneficial to the communities.”
In one of the paintings entitled, ‘The Divinity’, the artist depicts a young girl with a visage that mirrors her indomitable spirit while in the background a ‘White Tara of Compassion’ is seen, suggesting the resilience of the girl must have emanated from the divine source. In another painting ‘Art Healing’, a young girl is painting a pair of phoenixes which takes flight after being completed.
The artist’s roots are in graffiti writing which he got into during the 1980s. He is also known as youths’ art worker traveling across the world painting murals, and helping the young people and prisoners facing trauma and difficulty in life through art workshops. “I use art as a tool to change their life around, teach them life skills and plant the seed of positive hope in their life which they can work with, doesn’t mean they have to become an artist or painter,” Martin said.
Before the quake, Martin had taken up a collaborative mural art project on the British Embassy wall in Kathmandu. He painted a mural on the wall evoking both the countries cultures and relations. The elaborate artwork formally launched the year-long celebration of the bicentenary of bilateral relations between Nepal and Britain.
The proceeds of the art exhibition will be donated to the Kanti Ishwori Secondary school at Basantapur and Jagat Sundar school at Bwonekuthi in Kathmandu to contribute in running permanent art classes and having art as a permanent subject in their curriculum. The exhibition will then move on to the UK and the Netherlands for the same purpose.
“I went there to work for the schools were affected by the quake, but when I was working there I noticed that the kids had no contact with art and some of them had never seen paint in their life, I was shocked,” he said. Martin found out that either of the schools did not have art classes which nudged him to set up art classes.
The artist says that in Nepal, he was struck with the complexity of the history of the art form and the secretiveness that surrounds it.
Expounding his views on philosophy and art, Martin said that ‘contrast’ is symbolic of the world and emphasized on celebrating our differences and appreciating it. This is one of the primary reasons why the artist has been traveling world over and has a penchant for delving into diverse cultures.
“Art is a part of culture, therefore the art is everything creative that people do as an expression,” says Martin Travers adding that he doesn’t have a dogmatic view on art. “Art is a great way of saying that I am here, I am alive right now, I am part of this world, art is a way the people share their stories,” he said.
According to the artist, one’s definition of art should not fence in or confine the art. “It should be as broad as it can be,” the artist insisted further adding, “Art is about breaking those fences and boundaries in our minds.” RSS
