Etching from memory

Kabi Raj Lama was a student in Tokyo when Japan was hit by the Great Sendai Earthquake that set off a deadly tsunami in 2011. Nearly 16,000 people were killed.

As he watched the disaster ravage families and property, the scenes became deeply etched in his mind. He did not know at that time that it was going to reflect in his art.

“The disaster made me think about life. When I saw houses collapse and people die, I wondered about unfulfilled dreams. The trauma left a hollow inside me and I had to find a way to fill it, so I started sketching,” recalls Lama.

At the Meisei University Centre of Art and Design in Tokyo, he spent much of his time sketching his memory. “I documented my trauma in sketches and photographs to overcome it. And as a student of lithography, I turned those into prints,” he says.

Some of his work went on to be exhibited in Tokyo’s Senbyakudo Gallery in 2012, where Lama’s work received attention from Japanese professors, artists and collaborators.

“In Japan, print-making is a tradition, so the visitors were curious about my work. They asked me about print culture in Nepal and if I would be continuing doing it,” says Lama.

Back in Nepal in 2015, he experienced the second great earthquake of his life. Along with memories revived by the disaster, he was dealing with the state of being “unsettled”. He had also lost friends and felt like the chaos in his mind needed organising.

He turned to sketching again, and started archiving heritage sites in Nepal to document the earthquake’s aftermath for which he set up a studio close to his home in Bouddha.

The place has an industrial feel about it -- the white walls and the high ceiling give an airy impression of space. In the centre is a press machine, there are litho stones propped up on a pedestal. There are stocked-up canvas, papers, tools and a yellow colour lab that draws the space together like it is a throbbing heart.

“I have been using the studio not just to create art, but also to meet other artists and to teach,” says Lama. “Working space matters because if you are in familiar space, it can transport you to another zone.”

When Nepal went into lockdown in March 2020, Lama finally found the quiet he was looking for. Working hours on end without having to entertain anyone, the studio was where he worked, ate, slept.

“I had been stockpiling material and I had time. I had been planning techniques,” and so Lama started working on a new series involving wood, stones and copper plates.

One of the prints he made during the lockdown is that of the Biswarupa. He had always been fascinated by the temple in the Pashupati complex whose statue was heavily damaged during the 2015 earthquake, an image of which circulated on Facebook. Lama used it to recreate the energy exuded by the figure.

“The Bishwarup is a powerful image with its thousand hands, and it took me months to finish. I like to gaze at it for hours,” he says, looking proudly at his creation.

With print-making, Lama tends to invest more observation in details. The idea of creation is associated with a heaviness that clouds him before he starts, almost like a gestation period. His research entails looking up historical archives, work done by other artists on the topic and relevant references. “I collect them. I pull together ideas and make sketches.”

After the sketches are done, he picks from the three of his techniques—lithography, wood cut and etching—depending on which fits the sketch best. As opposed to a more prolific time when he was working on canvas, Lama has learned that putting more thought into what he creates, gives him more satisfaction.

“There are so many variations in tools and even if I change chemicals a little, the outcome is different. Noticing small things is like meditation for work,” he explains.

Apart from creating, Lama is promoting his studio as a resource for those who want to learn about lithography. He says it is all about tracing relevance.

“In Newa culture, we have the Chitrakars who do blocks, Ranjitkars work with dye. We have Tibetan influenced, flags in print. We just need to identify and create a printmaking curriculum,” says Lama, who explains that print is also connected to education and industry.

“When there was no offset press, people printed manually: newspapers, religion, entertainment, we’ve always depended on manual printing. But they have evolved, and if we set up community studios, we could teach children to do this.  It’s the only way to preserve art.”

Kabi Raj Lama’s solo series, Cycles of Impermanence, will be on display at Siddhartha Art Gallery from February 19 onwards for a month.

(This story is based on a podcast by ofallthingsart)