Nihona Pradhan

Makhu

‘Makhu’ in Nepal Bhasa means refusal, denying. The word repeats until it dissolves into texture, pattern. Beneath it, lotus mandala holds the composition, the pattern that can be seen around Thangka borders, in 'Mha Puja' mandap patterns drawn on the ground during Tihar or in the interlocking forms of Newa architecture.

Floating around the texts are water-like chrome forms that disrupt the pattern. They carry the metaphor of 'coloring outside the lines', these flows/waves that have been broken, refusing to be categorized. The sentiment of not belonging but refusing to leave.

The human nature of contemplating, the feeling of never quite knowing what we have until having it becomes ordinary. The specific weight of loving a place is that the question of departure becomes unanswerable and you find yourself quietly asking “what does it mean to love a place and also want to leave it?”