Today we’d like to introduce you to Sunil Lama.
Sunil, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am an international student at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX, as an MFA Candidate for 2024. I come from a small Nepalese family, including my parents, sister, and wife. There are a lot of stories to share, but today, I want to share more stories about my art life as an international student here in the United States.
I completed my BFA in 2017 from Sirjana College of Fine Arts, Kathmandu, Nepal. After that, I had to take a break before starting the MFA, but in between COVID-19 gifted me a long vacation. During the COVID, the whole of Nepal was struggling, as well as my family. The COVID taught me the importance of family and a home where everyone feels safe and protected. I used to observe more about everyday spaces and objects around me and search happiness. Now, all artworks that I create are inspired and connected to my everyday objects and spaces. Basically, my artworks talk about home.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Talking about obstacles or challenges, the most frequent challenge for me is to discover stories or memories behind the spaces and objects. Because repetition of observing the same spaces and objects for years, attachments to those usually have the same or similar memories. My art practice has a pattern of creating, for example, the use of five characters directly or indirectly, minimalism, labor-heavy, and so on. For me, following the same or similar patterns sometimes becomes the real obstacle.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a printmaker, but I love to work as a multi-disciplinary artist. Mostly, the combination of prints, paintings, and installations. The recent work titled; “झ्याल पछाडिको आवाज – sound behind the window” where I connect the memories from the past to the present and the future. This is an installation of woodcut prints on five different panels suspended from the ceiling. The images that are depicted in the works are windows from the three different homes that I have been to so far. These windows recall the memories of sounds that I listen to and observe. For example, my parents chatting next door, birds chatting early morning outside the window, and so on.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
The memory from childhood. I do not recall most of the good memories, but I have some memories from childhood. I used to be a very tough kid for my mom. If I am not wrong, I was 7/8 years old when I got punishment in school. After that, I made up a lot of excuses like fake sicknesses, fake holidays, and so on. But after a month, I was out of excuses, and then the only option was left to cry every time while walking to school. The good thing was that my mom realized that something was not right, and she asked me to share what was the issue. Later on, she managed to dismiss that specific teacher from the school.
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