11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

(clockwise from top) Indu Tharu / Ragat Timro Pani Raato Chha (detail) 2008–ongoing / Inkjet prints on paper, handwritten poem on Nepali paper / 12 sheets: 19 × 34cm (each) / Purchased 2024. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Alyen Leeachum Foning / The Story of Muun 2024 / Upcycled textiles, paper, cotton/jute/other textile chords, papier-mâché, wire frame / 230 × 183 (diam.) x 595cm (circum., approx.) / Courtesy: The artist; Lavkant Chaudhary / “ बटिया हेरटि रहना आँखी ...” Batiya Herati Rahana Ankhi . . . ( Waiting for lost souls . . . ) Memorial Pillar in terracotta, Kumbhar Adda Memorial Park, Semrauwa, Bardiya Nepal 2024 Park in honour of disappeared civilians. Bardiya district, where the park is located, witnessed a disproportionate level of violence during the People’s War, with numerous individuals still unaccounted for, most of whom belonged to Tharu communities. While working on the monument, Lavkant was walking near a forest and came across the site where Sita Chaudhary, a woman from the adjoining village, was raped by military officers of the Royal Nepal Army; her body was never found. That night, Lavkant had a dream in which he saw her sitting in front of him. When he woke up, startled, the fan he shut off prior to sleeping was mysteriously on again. Similar paranormal incidents, common in the village, were interpreted as encounters with distraught spirits; perhaps paralleling the spirit of the revolution itself, which also seems to be in limbo. TOEMBRACE FLUIDITY How do we acknowledge our vulnerabilities in ways that nurture strength rather than exhaust us? Sometimes re/connecting with one’s community can lead to unexpected hurdles. Indigenous Nepalese artists have been labouring to address such friction, to work on interpersonal traumas and to mend intergenerational fractures. Through her works, Keepa Maskey often questions the nature of how we perceive bodies, kinships, abilities and connection to soil. She has a complex relationship with her grandmother because her parents had an intercaste marriage. While Maskey grounds her practice in the knowledge systems of the Indigenous Newa community of the Kathmandu Valley, her approach to art-making, however, has not been straightforward. She explains: As much as I tried day in and day out in the process of figuring it out, I have fallen continuously. The pace has been slow. There exists a pile of blocks within my thinking. I tried to swim through these blocks to find my way, but I kept getting stuck and falling . . . To fall is not necessarily as catastrophic as one may traditionally tend to think. Ironically, the ground, the soil comforts me as much as I fear the violent shakes underground. Soil gives me a space to realise a home for me. 7 As Indigenous artists, the road to discovering ourselves remains complicated, especially if one is queer, neurodivergent or a person with disabilities. Curators and art institutions alike are rarely attuned to such nuanced dynamics. This type of non-belonging can become isolating, perpetual and overbearing. Alyen Foning, who comes from the Lepcha people of the Eastern Himalayas, now in present-day India, explores her relationship to Shamanism in many of her works. The process of coming to terms with her identity as a Muun, a female Shaman, has been riddled with challenges both personal and public. She remarks that some younger practitioners are discouraged from exploring Shamanism by members of their own families, who may practise a different religion. Regarding her personal awakening, Alyen writes: In many shamanisms, it is said that madness is a doorway and an opening to unseen worlds. As I began to read through writings on this subject and interviewed some Elders and Shamans of my tribe, I became aware that in various practices of Shamanism around the world, this experience is known as the Shaman’s sickness . . . For me, it began long before I could even register it, but there came a point in my life when I had lost myself completely. I had managed to break my heart, my body and finally I shattered my mind. My soul was weak, but it seemed to be flickering in the deepest darkest place I have been in my whole life. 8 With guidance from her aunt and her ancestors, Alyen was able to centre herself, navigate her breakdown and come to terms with her experiences. As a Muun, she views this transition as a gift and a path that underscores her own individual fluidity and connection to Earth. The works presented in the Asia Pacific Triennial’s TAMBA project ultimately question how we relate to our realities and enrich our understanding of shared histories beyond the lens of nationalism, capitalism, archive or ethnography — how we re/centre our lived experiences over theory. Our shared connections should extend beyond trauma as the sole point of solidarity; a commitment to mutual care is not only a survival strategy, but also demands collaborative and diverse approaches to cultural activism and reclamation. By doing so, we can offer insights into a world that transcends greed, creating a sensorial resistance to a society that compels us to dissociate from ourselves. Moreover, it encourages us, as Indigenous peoples, to embrace fluid ways of being, loving and imagining, even in these uncharted times. SHEELASHARAJBHANDARI + HITMANGURUNG NOTES 1 English translation of The Tamba Whyai story of creation as sung by Dhawa Wangel Moktan in Subas Tamang’s Song of origin 2022. Translated by Subas Tamang and Priyankar Bahadur Chand. 2 For more, see Janak Rai and Sara Shneiderman, ‘Identity, society, and state: Citizenship and inclusion in Nepal over time’, in Deepak Thapa (ed.), The Politics of Change: Reflections on Contemporary Nepal , Social Science Baha, Kathmandu, 2019, pp.83– 108, Social Science Baha , <soscbaha.org/publication/ the-politics-of-change- reflections-on-contemporary- nepal/>, viewed July 2024. 3 For more, see Mukta S Tamang, ‘Democracy and cultural diversity in Nepal’, Himalaya: The Journal of Nepal and Himalayan Studies , vol. 21, no. 1, 2001, pp.22–5, <digitalcommons.macalester. edu/himalaya/vol21/iss1/12>, viewed July 2024. 4 Birkha Bahadur Muringla, ‘Limbu poem yakthung sa ga.. याक्थुङ सा ग ’, Limboo Culture [Sukhim] YouTube, 5 June 2020, <www.youtube. com/watch?v=R0CIknL3wrc>, viewed July 2024. Translated by Mekh Limbu and Priyankar Bahadur Chand. 5 Paschim Madesh Media, ‘Dr. Damber chemjong speak identity and ethnicity’, 21 May 2024, paschimmadhesmedia YouTube, <www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JvkFg7aTv78>, viewed July 2024. Excerpt translated from Nepali. 6 Dipti Sherchan and Priyankar Bahadur Chand, ‘Afterlives, aftershocks, afterthoughts: Suturing memories of loss and fissures in Nepal’, Asia Pacific Art Papers , 2021, <apap.qagoma.qld.gov.au/ afterlives-aftershocks- afterthoughts-suturing- memories-of-loss-and- fissures-in-nepal/>, viewed July 2024. 7 Keepa Maskey, ‘Webbing void – soil in my mind’, unpublished manuscript, December 2023. 8 Alyen Foning, The Story of the Muun , Zubaan, New Delhi, 2019, pp.7–9, <zubaanprojects.org/ wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ SPF-2018-Grant-Papers-Alyen- Foning-The-Story-Of-The- Muun-1.pdf>, viewed July 2024. ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 190 — 191