POETRY OF THE EARTHS MYSTERIES // KATHMANDU CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTRE // KATHMANDU, NEPAL // 2014
Poetry Of The Earths Mysteries is a single channel film that partners the installation Sundari Jal filmed on location in Kathmandu during the making of Sayapatri 100 layers. Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Residency, Nepal 2014. Shot over the course of the 4 month residency during the precious monsoon season. This film was made to articulate the importance of the rains and the effect they have on sustaining our life cycles. Natures beauty threaded together with the importance of the artists Buddhist values around the sacred earth and the bounties provided by her.
Biken Ranjit's signature attention to detail and collection of natural audio contextualises the making of the artwork, culture and emotion of daily life in Kathmandu. This collaboration allows the film to become an artwork unto itself from the position of the filmmaker in response to the artist’s process. As the process of making is critical to the social practice component of the artworks. The site specific installations keep the physical artwork in flux. Thus becoming ephemeral in nature, this then positions the film to be become the lasting and permanent memory of the artworks process and realisations. Completed late 2014 before the Kathmandu earthquake in 2015, this film piece has become archival footage of the cities world heritage site architecture and many of the historic temples in Kathmandu. Filmed just months before the epic destruction of the natural disaster making this documentation a significant work of art in its own right that has become a visual veneration to the land of the gods.
Made in collaboration with Film maker Biken Ranjit, whose interests are photography and film making. Ranjit has recently becoming a professional freelance photographer and is associated with ARTUDIO centre for visual art and as a coordinator for photography workshops. Ranjit works as a video editor, having completed a degree from the International School of Media and Entertainment Studies, NOIDA, Delhi NCR, India.
This work was made with support from The Asia New Zealand Foundation who supports and organises Asia-related events and festivals, offering artists professional development opportunities in Asia