I didn’t want to be ordinary; I wanted to do something different, something inspirational.” By the looks of it, Meghraj Ashesh Timsina has certainly succeeded on all those counts. A sculptor from Itahari, Timsina had always been determined to not only make art, but make art that was memorable. But to stand out from other artists, he knew he had to challenge himself, attempt the unexpected. And so we find him today, crafting elaborate sculptures, but with a twist: He does so using only his feet, or blindfolded.
Although several news reports have misattributed to Timsina the title of ‘physically-disabled sculptor’, the artist has the use of all of his limbs, and until not too long ago, sculpted and painted with his hands. The 33-year-old has been involved in art for more than two decades, having made more than 500 sculptures and painted a substantial number of pieces over that time. “Art is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do,” he says. “I liken it to spirituality; it’s the only reference I can think of to describe the kind of transcendental power creating art has for me.”
Timsina says he’d never been a studious child, and had instead been more occupied with what he saw around him in nature and with more creative pursuits than what the heavy textbooks had in store for him. “I remember playing in the mud a lot, maybe that was a sure-fire sign that I’d be sculpting some day,” he laughs. Besides that, his brother, Bikram Shree, was already into the arts when Timsina had been young. “I’d watch him paint and sculpt, and help him in all these little ways, and it just clicked that I wanted to be like him when I got older,” he says. And that is exactly what he did for more than a decade, at which point, the ever-restless Timsina says, he wanted to “go beyond”. “I’d always wondered what it would be like for physically-challenged folks with an inclination for the arts who felt that their conditions prevented them from going forward with their creative impulses,” he says. “That would be a terrible waste.” This was nine years ago, and Timsina decided he would spend his time doing what he did, but learning to employ his feet in the task, or even doing it blindfolded, not only in an attempt to challenge himself as an artist, but also to offer inspiration to the physically-challenged. “I always had the luxury of relying on my hands and sight, but these people don’t have that. Why should that stop them from creating beautiful art?”
It isn’t only Timsina’s process that is attuned to this philosophy of art being accessible to all, but also his work. One of these is a sculpture of a heart, where “all judgement against fellow humans derives from,” according to the artist. This piece had been crafted live in front of a considerable crowd at the Kavya Vatika in Itahari a while back. And just last month, he’d held a show at the Osho Tapoban in Raniban, sculpting live a figure of Gautam Buddha tying a band over his eyes. The artist hopes that his efforts will be soon recognised by the Guinness World Records, to which he’s submitted an application, but says he expected more support from the government in pushing his bid.
“Any record, especially in the arts, would be a great thing for the country, and to be working so hard and to be so little encouraged in this way is disheartening,” he says.
Besides his art, Timsina has dabbled in film and theatre a few times as well. Also a comedian, he’s done a number of street plays, alongside a role in Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya’s directorial venture Filim in 1998. At present, he is working on a TV show titled Mr Mercury, which is set to be nationally televised at a later date. “I want to do as much as I can in the time I have,” he says. “When you’re an artist, it’s your work that speaks for you, and I want mine to speak volumes.”
Source : E-Kantipur , 19th July 2013
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