Soo, as I’m sure a lot of you would have heard by now: that Kathmandu
is Calling in the name of art, the power of community – and will be bringing a
true Nepalese cultural experience to Reading and beyond… Hurrah!
But what does this mean and why am I doing it? The mind slowly
ponders... Well firstly, I have a great kinship with the country after
volunteering there with children doing pre-school and after-school clubs with
the kids; helping them with their Maths and English, as well as assisting with
painting their (highly porous!) school walls. My volunteering also included a
month at an orphanage in South Nepal with some of the most glorious children I
have met. But it wasn’t just volunteering, you see. It was so much more than that. Yes, sure, I travelled and had some
wonderful touristic experiences. True. However when you are volunteering – you
are living amongst the community and therefore become a part of it. It adds a
whole other dimension to the experience. I was staying in basic digs, eating
their (amazing!) food and walking, talking their language. I loved it. I hadn’t
met people like this before in my life – nor a country as beautiful as this.
Unlike any other place I have been to in the world – simply because the world
is so vast – Nepal is the first (and only place) that I have wanted to go back
to.
And back I went. I returned earlier this year to re-visit
and travel some more. This was back in Feb, using redundancy funds from my
previous life in the corporate role – Nepal was going to be the dividing line
between the two lives. The line drawn in the sand, so to speak. The day I came
back from Nepal, I decided to become an artist. Not only that, but I decided to
do my first series of paintings dedicated to Nepal. This happened to be just
two days before the first of the two horrific earthquakes hit Nepal. I was
devastated at the news of the Quakes. Wholly and completely.
I’ve done a lot of work in that time: I have set myself up
as an artist and made the decision that my first exhibition would absolutely be
to help Nepal. I created my website: http://www.mahliaamatina.com/ and am
currently working on the body of work that will be revealed at the exhibition,
starting tomorrow (19th Oct).
“It goes without saying that my first solo exhibition; ‘Kathmandu Calling!’ is dedicated to the people of Nepal - for their insatiable courage, profound spirit and overall resilience”
