ARTICULATING SOCIAL COMMENTARIES
Subas Tamang

Hailing from one of the indigenous Tamsaling community of Nepal, Subas Tamang belongs to a family of traditional stone carvers who explores his artistic expression through varying mediums. Tamang who holds an MFA from Tribhuwan University’s Lalit Kala campus is set to showcase at ‘Dhaka Art Summit 2017’.
Characteristically, Tamang’s works incorporate multi-media and different technologies, experimenting with new media. The artist’s work titled, ‘I Want To Die In My Own House’ which intrigued us was an autobiographical commentary which represents the dreams of thousands of dislocated family members in Nepal who are compelled to move from their villages to bigger cities due to social and political concerns. “A permanent address is an important marker of a person’s identity in our culture that evokes a sense of respect which is deprived for these villagers often trapping them in an unending and vicious cycle of struggle” stated Subas defiantly.
In the weeks following the quakes in Nepal, the community of ‘Thulo-Byasi’ was threatened by structures and incessant tremors, which deepened these reservations. Tamang responded to this calamity through the conception of ‘Basibiyalo’ to address the lack of communal spaces in temporary campsites. Working with found material,Tamang produced a furnished space with the help of children and youth living at the camp which he transformed into an interactive art space which explored the connection between people and spaces through engaging works installed within a severely damaged site. After hours of documentation, recordings and interviews, the artist presented portraits of community members in an interface; where viewers interacted with individuals who voiced their stories. In keeping with Tamang’s social questions, his work ‘Mane’ draws a connection between technology and tradition. Tamang used resin and bronze etching among other materials to portray the manner in which social structures in Nepal are rapidly changing as a result of modernization and cosmopolitanism while focusing upon its inability in celebrating societal traditions.