tiki zhya layn swoebale

The series tiki zhya layn swoebale, has 5 paintings on linen that, as the title suggests in Shrestha’s native tongue Newari, means ‘looking through the Tiki window’. Shrestha has always found her paintings to be windows. She finds that looking through windows evoke contemplation, gratitude, longing and even consolation in the time of grief. The 5 paintings pertain to the 5 spiritual elements in Newari culture, which are: earth, water, fire, air and ether/space. Shrestha highlights specific moments and memories with her family and paints them in abstractions making it seem to blend in the landscape. The background contains a perception, path or an instrument to the cosmic. Her work envisions a desire for a hopeful infinite cosmic survival.