ChAutari

Chautari, Toilet Paper, 2018

I created my second toilet paper work, Chautari, during an interdisciplinary student artist residency with Gallery MCube in Lalitpur, Nepal. Chauteri was in Lalitpur, Nepal. Chauteri was fabricated in collaboration with Nawina Sunuwar and with the assistance of Saphal Shrestha.  

The 10-foot tree was made solely of toilet paper twisted into rope. It was named after the painted trees around Kathmandu where people gather to honor the Nepali people.

When an 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, there was no government aid, no insurance, no faceless organizations to swoop in and save the day. Nepali people had to depend on each other. There is a strength and beauty in a collectivist culture that America does not possess. A strand of toilet paper is weak, but twist it together with 2, 26, 80 more strands, and it is transformed into something strong, beautiful, and intricate. In this way Chautari speaks to the strength of community over the individual.