Artist Umesh Shrestha, who hails from Gairimudi, a small settlement in eastern Dolakha, annually invites to his hometown a number of artists from around the country. Once there, the artists create their own artworks, turning the barren lands and trees, bamboos and houses, into canvases.

This is that time of the year. As part of the annual event spearheaded by Shrestha, Gairimudi has itself turned into a giant work of art. There are frames of artworks hanging from trees; and the houses have turned into murals.

The village has also converted into an art school for children and a training workshop for teachers.

Shrestha, speaking to the Post, recalls how he, as a child, used to turn the tails of cattles into a painting brush. “I used to make brushes from oxens’ tails, without hurting them of course, and I would bind the fur on the tip of bamboo,” the artist said, “I used to paint whereever I liked, on stones, on walls, I would turn white walls into red and red into white.”

Once grown up, Shrestha enrolled at the Lalit Kala Campus in the Capital and later, set up the Himalayan Art and Culture Foundation. The current event is organised by the Foundation, with support from Nepal Academy of Fine Arts.

The week-long event also includes an art workshop for young students, in which the students are led through the various processes of making art. The workshop is being mentored by artists Ramman Maharjan, Mithila Devi Yadav and Chanda Shrestha.

“I have a dream of turning this village into an Art Village,” Shrestha told the Post. Shrestha has named the venue—“Mother: Centre for Rural Fine Arts”—and his project—“Art Camp With Creative Workshop 2017”.

Shrestha, who has been involved in the Nepali art sphere for over 25 years, said that the project could play a role in promoting tourism. “A number of youths from this village are currently studying fine arts in the Capital, and if we can collaborate with them, the dream of converting Gairimudi into an ‘Art Village’ is possible.”