As to why art, Ashutosh Tiwari, WaterAid’s country representative for Nepal, says, “Instead of lectures and papers, we thought we should let the artists speak for themselves.” [break]
Held on Thursday, September 29, most of the installations were showcased in Hotel Himalaya, Kupondole, while others extended to the hallway and one trailed right from the hotel’s main entrance.
The 10 artists – Asha Dangol, Erina Tamrakar, Jupiter Pradhan, Om Khattri, Pritivhi Shrestha, Rajan Kaphle, Raju Pithakote, Saurganga Darshandhari, Sundar Basnet, and Sushma Shakya – of whom eight were men, all displayed various elements of menstruation and practices in Nepal surrounding it.
Addressing Chhaupadhi – the tradition, especially endemic in west Nepal, in which women are forced into seclusion while they bleed – Erina Tamrakar used five canvases titled “Chhaupadhi Aba Gharvitra” in mostly all red with and messages against the age-old tradition. Om Khattri took the visual to a live demonstration with a woman sitting inside a shack with snakes, mice and bugs to show what women in Nepal are subject to every month. And Sundar Basnet pasted red and white tape asking questions like “Is it a sin to menstruate?” from the floor of the entrance leading to posters addressing questions about menstruation.
Prithvi Shrestha’s installation of female frames dressed according to different age groups was a tribute to how the process of menstruation is natural and necessary to give birth and life.
Jupiter Pradhan has a similar concept and had a baby doll inside a block of ice made to look like a female torso. While the ice dripped, it mixed with red pigment to fall, symbolizing menstrual blood.
Sushma Shakya brought the issue of hygiene to light with 28 buckets of water, of which four were red buckets filled with red tinted water to represent the average four days a woman bleeds in her menstrual cycle.
Perhaps the most effective in terms of display and challenging the mentality in Nepal was Asha Dangol’s piece.
Using female mannequins and red threads connected to lotuses, Dangol symbolized the breaking of the uterus lining, and since lotuses are a symbol of purity, to change the idea of menstruation being considered dirty and impure.
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