The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Artists The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 140 hundreds of flowers more (stills) 2021 Single-channel video: 16:9, colour, sound, 16:97 minutes / Courtesy: The artist in these folds (detail) 2019–20 Ink on paper / 152 x 228.6cm waiting for Nepal 2011–12 Digital photographs Courtesy: The artist Tarun Nagesh: The ‘on waiting’ series presents a series of images of Nepali society seemingly on the precipice of hopeful change, but stops there — to emphasise that this hasn’t arrived. Could you tell us about what you are representing here? Karan Shrestha: In 2011, five years after the end of a decade- long Nepalese Civil War, the promises of the revolution had dissipated. Calls for reform that charged the insurgency didn’t result in any considerable restructuring of social or economic order. With governments repeatedly collapsing, and opposing political parties regularly enforcing bandhs (general strikes), daily life was ruptured. Water, fuel and gas shortages — power cuts for more than ten hours a day — added to the bleakness. What began as a photographic record of a Nepali experience grew over the years into a work registering the numerous complexities associated with the act of waiting — a form of structural violence committed by the system on its subjects. A hierarchy of importance was created that reflects the violence of deep-rooted social differences sealed into a cultural pastime (of waiting). From basic amenities to human rights, education to employment, the people of Nepal have been made to wait without clarity. TN: Almost conversely, in these folds 2019–20 and hundreds of flowers more 2021 stitch together a complexity of Nepali history. References to conflict, tragedy, patriotism, militarism, ecological disaster and natural beauty signal both the human violence and destructive forces of nature that have shaped Nepal. Can you explain what you are highlighting about Nepal and its peoples through these works? KS: Given Nepal’s recent past — characterised by a ten- year revolution, dissolution of monarchy, social and political upheaval, unstable economies, ethnic conflicts and natural disasters — it may appear that these momentous changes would diminish the archaic, exclusionary character of the state. This hasn’t been the case. The oppression of ethnic groups that commenced during Nepal’s unification in the mid-eighteenth century persists in today’s systems and structures. Moreover, owing to its natural formation and geographical position, the landscape presents possibilities for ruptures. The violence is ubiquitous. in these folds addresses how precariousness is concealed under a multitude of guises, be it the rhetoric of progress or the fever dream of nationalism, transcendental practices or everyday faith. The work posits how mythology, reality, illusions and beliefs are intensely entangled in Nepal. TN: Each body of work manifests through a range of media, providing both multiple entry points to a subject and a layering of meaning. From static photographs, poetry and long-form filming to tightly stitched montage video and cartoonish drawings — can you explain these different material impulses? KS: Initial impulses flow intuitively. As the work expands, the inquiry takes precedent, informing mediums and materials, each containing and communicating differently. My approach to a drawing varies from how a photograph or a video is made, or a poem written. However, this practice has become second nature and there is no separation among modalities. The pursuit is for perspectives that supplement the proposition at large — making connections, drawing patterns. Works that encapsulate complexity and hold sensitivity move me. It is an aspiration in all I make. And for the processes to allow analogies to come together, such that different readings emerge, escaping the burden of a singular meaning. TN: A number of your projects seem to be ongoing, in that you continue to revisit and add different elements; it shows a kind of fluidity of form and ability to continue to dig deeper into an idea over time. Can you comment on how these temporal shifts in revisiting subjects play out? KS: The works are attempts at comprehension, realising visions, never striving for absolutes. For me, these works sit along a continuum, with facets revealed over duration. There are limitations — artistically as well as in access to information, resources, mediums and materials. However, the aspects are constantly shifting. Aesthetics emerge from these limitations, with an aim to cross thresholds and find new ways of listening, of seeing, of doing — finding new forms within contexts and furthering means of sense-making signified by communities from our region which are outside Western rational-scientific disciplines. This becomes possible only through a longstanding engagement. The fluidity of the practice confronts familiar modes of thinking and creating, instead urging a wider vocabulary. Karan Shrestha Born 1985, Kathmandu, Nepal Lives and works between Kathmandu and Mumbai, India