Aftermath
Asha Dangol, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
91 × 91 cm

© Asha Dangol

The Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015 killed over 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000. Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake was the worst natural disaster since 1934. Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless, and entire villages were razed to the ground. At UNESCO World Heritage sites in Kathmandu valley centuries-old buildings were destroyed. The Aftermath series represent the artist’s immediate response to the earthquake. His self-portrait, produced after the disaster, points to his hope of regeneration in the wake of this hopeless situation. Following this disaster, human sentiment has become as hard and unfeeling as concrete. The broken concrete body points to the fragmentation of human experience in contemporary society. The artist’s imagination drifts, dazzles and floats between these two extremes, and gives rise to a sense of disillusionment borne from the ensuing chaos. Pivoting between tradition and modernity, my paintings depict the quest for identity in an atmosphere of disorder and confusion following the earthquake.