holy mountain Print

Harijan’s practice focuses on social issues of caste discrimination, a system that divides people into unequal and hierarchical social groups, an issue that affects an estimated 260 million people worldwide. Those at the bottom are considered ‘lesser human beings’, ‘impure’ and ‘polluting’ to other caste groups. In Nepal, Harijan’s family was in the Dalit, or “untouchable”, caste. Dalit people are removed from the hierarchy, forbidden in temples or allowed to read Hindu script, as well as forced to take part in “low-level work”. Relatively innocuous objects, such as a metallic kitchen bowl as seen in his recent sculpture Piece of Holy Mountain (2022), become compelling symbols of lowly-paid toil and make the ordinary become extraordinary. By the age of 14, the artist was working in fields near his home to make money to go to school, before finally studying at the University of Kathmandu.