pranav
narayan
manandhar
ARTIST
ARTIST
Pranav Narayan Manandhar (b. 1991) is a multidisciplinary artist whose works explore the themes of the workings of mind, vanishing cultural practices and South Asian philosophies through the media of film, music and photography. Having done a course in Buddhist Studies from Rangjung Yeshe Institute, he likes to explore the relation and friction of Buddhist philosophy with the modern-day way of living. His short documentary ‘Portrait of MaNe’ won the Best Documentary Nepal Panorama at Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) in 2019.
I am interested in working in the theme of emotional landscapes where the current of memory, experiences and trauma interact. I use images and sounds in my work to possibly create a trigger to cause this interaction.
In this current work, Subima Shrestha and I have created three pieces of work that try to piece together experiences of Rekha Devi Yadav and the community of women around her.
In the first work, I have repeated a video clip of Rekha Devi Yadav in a loop to express the strength, which has remained unaffected since the time she started working for the women in her community 10+ years ago. This strength has helped her persevere over the years and without a doubt, it can be felt in her voice. For this reason, I have placed audio clips of Rekha Devi Yadav’s voice along with the looped video clip.
In the second work, by symbolically presenting Subima Shrestha as a representation of the female collective around Rekha Devi Yadav, I have tried to portray the inner experiences of loneliness and longing for support through the video clips and a poem by Subima Shrestha.
The third work, which is a performance of Subima Shrestha with Rekha Devi Yadav, conveys a sense of friction when the collective comes in touch with strength which in this case is Rekha Devi Yadav. The transformation presented here is that of coming out of imposed boundaries to a sense of freedom, or from another angle, becoming the strength of Rekha Devi Yadav.
What first struck us when we got to know Rekha Devi Yadav was her determination to help her community no matter what the obstacles were. She has been continuously raising her voice to support the women of her village and has been using whatever tools, be it trainings, elections or support from the youth to fight the discrimination against women.
Our work hinges on her strong voice and the impact it has had on the women of her community. With three different works, our intention is to deliver the perspectives of Rekha Devi Yadav and her community, both from the angle of their outer world and also from a more subtle inner emotional lens.
स्वर | Voice , 2021
Pranav Narayan Manandhar (b. 1991) & Subima Shrestha (b.1978)
Media: Multimedia video in three parts (below)
Size: Variable
The four audio files below should be played individually while watching the video above.
Ghumto pratha
Fighting Back The Pressures
Comment at Sahaj Pariyojana
Unconditional Determination
Video #3 credits:
Conceptualization and dance: Subima Shrestha
Music, direction videography and edit: Pranav Narayan Manandhar
Subima Shrestha, Sanjeev Maharjan, Sharareh Bajracharya, Uma Bista, Muna Bhadel, Rekha Devi Yadav, Gauri Devi Bista, Brahmapuri community, Gunjan Jha, Laxmi Singh, Nasala Chitrakar, Sushma Maharjan, Irina Giri, Suresh Raj Bajracharya, Isabelle Onians, Sunee Maharjan, UN Women team, LACC – Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre, Srijanalaya team (and space), Yantra House, Workaround space.
