POA Opening Studio: Contemporary Indigeneity is a week-long immersive engagements with bright sparks of the arts, social-political and heritage ecologies of Nepal. Artree Nepal is a collective of five diverse indigenous artists who intersect with the younger collective Kalā Kulo and an independent writer working on histories and archives. These individuals — Bishal Yonjan (Tamang indigenous People), Hit Man Gurung (Gurung Indigenous People), Indu Tharu (Tharu Indigenous People), Lavkant Chaudhary (Tharu Indigenous People), Mekh Limbu (Limbu Indigenous People), Priyankar Bahadur Chand, Sheelasha Rajbhandari (Newa Indigenous People), and Subas Tamang (Tamang Indigenous People) — spotlight indigenous narratives, grounded on issues surrounding reclamation of rights, equity, and sustenance of identity and culture. Their practices offer distinct approaches on navigating limitations and developing ground-up activations that effectively and sensitively engage resources and voices from the indigenous communities of Nepal as they nuance sustainable relationships between the human and non-human.
Day 1
POA 2025 Opening: Mapping Faded Dreams — Keynote by Hit Man Gurung
Wed, 12 February 2025, 7.30–9.30pm
Fresh from the 11th Asia Pacific Triennale in Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Artist and curator Hit Man Gurung (co-curator of Kathmandu Triennial 2077, Jogjakarta Biennale 2023, Colomboscope 2024, and Nepal Pavilion at 59th Venice Biennale) will present Mapping Faded Dreams. The keynote draws on Hit Man's longitudinal inquiry into migratory patterns of both human and non-human, including the evolving legacy of the Gurkhas in post-colonial nation states as well as his most recent research on birds.
The opening night of our annual conference series Per°Form Open Academy celebrates the week-long immersive keynotes and engagements with ArTree Nepal, a collective of five diverse indigenous artists (Hit Man Gurung, Lavkant Chaudhary, Mekh Limbu, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, and Subas Tamang) who intersect with the younger collective Kalā Kulo (Bishal Yonjan and Priyankar Bahadur Chand), and an independent writer working on histories and archives (Indu Tharu).
Day 2
Kaiten — Mangdem’ma: Invocations on history and healing — Talk by Subas Tamang and Mekh Limbu
Thu, 13 February 2025, 7.30–9.30pm
How do indigenous communities navigate the intertwined landscapes of history, trauma, and cultural loss? This session reflects on artistic practices that transform memory into resistance, from the tactile impressions of woodblock prints to the evocative power of oral traditions and the layered narratives of textiles and moving images. The artists reclaim histories obscured by colonisation, displacement, and forced labor, tracing the fractures left by the erosion of cultural ties. Grounded in ancestral knowledge, they engage intergenerational memory and spiritual practices, creating spaces where healing and resistance converge. These defiant acts challenge the persistent weight of control, surveillance, and disenfranchisement. The discussion also highlights the artists' ongoing advocacy for indigenous territorial rights in the face of disruptive "development” projects that undermine ecological and spiritual balance.
Day 3
Muktik Dagar: A Path of Liberation — Talk by Lavkant Chaudhary, Indu Tharu, and Priyankar Bahadur Chand
Fri, 14 February 2025, 7.30–9.30pm
Jokhan Ratgaiya, a Tharu poet, Maoist revolutionary, and editor of “Muktik Dagar” (Path of Liberation), published politically charged poetry and essays during Nepal’s People’s War in the late 1990s. In 2001, he was killed by the Royal Nepal Army for his leftist ideologies and resistance against the Nepali state. Fearing persecution, families in the region, including Ratgaiya’s own, destroyed many copies of the magazine. In 2020, surviving volumes were rediscovered, containing writings on the systematic dispossession of Tharu lands, the Kamaiya bonded labor system, and other structures of state oppression. In Nepal, a collective amnesia seems to have obscured the trauma of the conflict years, with reflections on reconciliation often reduced to hollow rhetoric. Drawing on the legacy of this publication, this session presents recent, collective efforts at resisting and remembering; particularly, examining protests as active sites of cultural production and the act of remembering as protest manifest.
Day 4
Ending with a Nepali Hangout
Sat, 15 February 2025, 3–9.30pm
3–5pm: Untamable Dankini: An interactive session with Sheelasha Rajbhandari — How can we cultivate sensorial resistance to society that compels us to dissociate?
5pm: Sip tea and chat amidst the exhibitions.
6-7.45pm: Drop in fireside chat with the artists from Nepal, moderated by Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen.
8pm: End the night with … relax, chill and commune with drinks, reverie, music and dance.
Images courtesy of Indu Tharu, Lavkant Chaudhary, Mekh Limbu, and Priyankar Bahadur Chand.