KATHMANDU, Dec 13: Two ceramic work exhibitions titled ‘Nari Satranj’ and ‘Initiation I and II’ are being showcased at the Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal. 

‘Nari Satranj’ is a solo ceramic work exhibition featuring works of Goplal Kalapremi Shrestha that kicked off on December 10. According to Gopal, he has created all characters of satranj (chess) or buddhichal in Nepali for the exhibit. Each piece is made up with the mixture of Nepali clay from Thimi, the tarai region of Nepal, Kaolin (China clay) and ball clay. The size of these characters varies from 18 inches to two feet and weights between seven to 12 kilograms. 

Shrestha said, “Chess is a political and social game, and I aim to bring out the present context of Nepal through my creations. As we don’t have many women participating in politics as well as in security agencies, so I decided to make all my characters female to show that women can contribute equally in these fields.” This exhibition features 53 pieces of chess characters all modeled on a women figures. As many as 32 of them are placed in a chess board, while 18 are placed outside waiting for their turn to enter the chess board in relation to real politics. The remaining three characters are modeled after the three legendary women Sangeeta Shrestha, Ashmina Ranjit and late Dr Dina Bangdel, who have contributed much to the Nepali art field. 

Shrestha has made the chess characters in different biological stages, including pregnant women and women with babies to show that women can fight despite the added roles and responsibilities in their lives. 

Similarly, ‘Initiation I and II’ is collaboration between Kalapremis Studio and Siddhartha Art Foundation began on December 1. The exhibit features various ceramic works made by artists of five different countries namely Pakistan, Denmark, Iran, Georgia and Nepal. The workshop of this exhibition was organized in two phases--‘Initiation I’ and ‘Initiation II’ -- on September and December respectively at Kalapremi’s Studio.The exhibition also features vases, murals, miniature pots and sculptures among other artworks. 

Both the exhibitions will continue till January 15, 2018.