“I start an art piece and then I struggle, struggle, and struggle till I finish,” says painter and visual artist Zubbin Dhital. Always one to push the limits of his creativity and the scope of his art, Zubbin values art for its ability to illustrate profound revelations about humans and human experiences.
His paintings carry a sense of unbridled childlike freedom. Prominent motifs of recurring characters, chaotic colours, and obscure texts try to cast the viewers a glimpse of the world as Zubbin views it. In a sense, his paintings seem like they are trying to break down emotions and sensations down to their basic foundations.
When Zubbin left Nepal to begin his undergraduate studies almost a decade back, he never thought he would pursue painting as a career. However, his experiences abroad exposed him to contemporary artists, their approaches to art, and underground art scenes. His encounters with underground artists who used art as a powerful medium of raging against conventional norms and authority instilled in him the potential of art to be a dominant mode of expression.
When Zubbin returned to Nepal, the passion for art ignited strong and true in him and he became fascinated with painting large-scale paintings. As such, he usually takes a long time to finish his art pieces. The last piece he did was a six foot painting which took him two months to complete. Art had become a source of comfort, a safe space, where he could experiment freely without any restrictions.
But he doesn’t feel that he has reached a level of artistic skill and critical thinking skill that would allow him to create ‘good art.’ “I am not there yet,” he reflects. “Art, which is really good, doesn’t only impress upon your mind once. It keeps on making you think.”
Zubbin’s tendency to deconstruct the world around him through his art echoes that of his collaborator, Kripa Shakya’s approach towards art. “Art doesn’t simply happen. There’s a lot of thought and contemplation that goes behind an artwork. You have to think about perspectives, tones, your own observation, materials, and all other elements of art,” she says.
A freelance visual artist, Kripa understands the world best through the lens of her camera. While other art forms had their appeal, photography was the one medium that resonated with her the most. “When I tried to express myself through other art forms like paintings, my paintings became more illustrative rather than conceptual,” she muses.
For her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts final art project, Kripa drew inspiration from within herself, more specifically, one of the most essential extensions of herself: her mother.
Shova Shakya, Kripa’s mother, works in her family-owned boutique shop in Kumaripati. Kripa had spent her childhood at the boutique shop, watching her father and mother cut, stitch, and design beautiful clothing pieces. She herself made small dresses for her dolls.
Children’s world often begins with their parents, their first foray into this world guided by steady hands of their parents. As a child, it is difficult to conceptualize your parents with lives of their own, as fully formed individuals.
Kripa also always saw her mother as only her mother. Her mother existed in her world only through her identity as a ‘mother’. Who was Shova Shakya before she became my mother? Kripa asked herself. Thus began her final art project, where she tried to capture her mother through the lens of a stranger.
She asked herself who her mother was and started her art project which pushed viewers to ask the same question to themselves. This inquisitiveness embedded within art is what fascinates Kripa, too. When artists create art, they question everything around them: Why do we do the things we do? Why do we feel the way we do? Why do we live the way we do? This constant questioning of the world around them makes them more conscious about their mortality. They start to live each moment instead of simply existing.
After the end of her project which was exhibited virtually, she found that people who viewed her project resonated intensely with it. “She being my mother is an intimate and personal connection but through my artwork, the universal concept of motherhood reflected within the audience,” she ruminates.
Her project was a photo series in which her intimate observation of her mother was brought to life. “My mother didn’t actually understand what I was doing when I was clicking her pictures,” she reminisces. “She used to ask why I was taking pictures of seemingly random things, her ear-rings, her feet, her reflections.”
Taking a picture can take only milliseconds, the time it takes for our brain to send signals to our fingers to press down on the shutter-release button. But getting to this stage can take days, months, and even years. While photography is primarily about the artistic sense, there’s an element of science too. The exact angle, the perfect white balance, the mise-en-scène. All of the prior preparation culminates into a photograph or a photograph series that speaks as much about the photography subject as the photographer.
“What we show through a photograph says a lot about us,” asserts Kripa.
Kripa Shakya and Zubbin Dhital are part of ‘Exchange: A Peer Learning Fellowship’ organized by Danfe Arts.