Exhibit review: When an oral story becomes a painting
Summary
Artist Bivas Rai’s solo exhibition Myth & Memory opens at Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu on August 28, exploring Kirati Rai culture, Sakela dance, and oral storytelling through paintings. The show draws on family memories, matriarchy, and inherited mythology, with each work featuring one of Rai’s sisters.
Key Points
- Bivas Rai’s solo exhibition ‘Myth & Memory’ opens at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited, on August 28.
- The paintings explore Kirati Rai culture through Sakela, a communal dance and festival honoring nature and ancestors.
- Rai turns family oral histories and folklore into visual art, centering sisterhood, matriarchy, and the myth of Tayama and Khiyama.
- The exhibition will be inaugurated by Australian Ambassador to Nepal Simon Ernst, AHF Chair Garry Weare, and AHF Himalayan Art Award founder Margie Thomas.
