Tsherin Sherpa, Nepalese Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale

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Curated by Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung, Tales of Muted Spirits – Dispersed Threads – Twisted Shangri-La will feature the work of artist Tsherin Sherpa.

For the Biennale Arte 2022, Sherpa will collaborate with artists across the country to draw upon materials from a shared history and incorporate accounts encoded in oral cultures, woven languages, and quotidian rituals to implicate an intersectional and intertwined past that problematizes contradictory conceptualizations of Nepal as well as the broader Himalayan region.

The highlands of Asia have always emanated a sense of mystique, sacredness, and remoteness. However, fluidity, mobility, and an exchange of knowledge have flourished between communities for centuries. Often these complexities get obfuscated through a “Shangri-La” effect, which persists in popular imaginations. This fetishization triggers paradoxical representations of Himalayan communities as primitive, yet wise; lacking historical accounts, yet rich in spiritual wisdom; sturdy physically, yet bereft materially.