Kathmandu Artists often reflect lifestyle, culture, religion, et cetera of a society in their artworks. Influenced by their society and people living in it, five artists — Anil Shahi, Jeewan Suwal, Jenney Ghale, Muna Bhadel and Sandhya Silwal have come up with distinct and varied expressions — through paintings, installations, cut out works and prints — at the exhibition ‘The Solace of Art’ at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Babermahal Revisited. Mirroring you and your surrounding is an installation by Shahi — it has four six-storied chest drawers placed in such a way that they face all four directions, creating the shape of cross (when looked from above). Titled ‘Diaries of the Unsung’, it is an embodiment of Shahi’s society. The wooden chest patched with mirrors — intact and cracked — serve the purposing of reflecting the reality. And if you pull each drawer, you are bound to go deeper in the artist’s society which is an interesting part of the installation. Pigeons eating corns, green tents used for shelter during earthquake, empty glasses of tea with tea stains at bottom and many other small installations are inside those drawers telling stories. Apart form the installation, Shahi has five other works in mixed media ‘You & Me’. The walls of the venue recall the earthquake of April 25, 2015 in the nostalgic paintings of artist Suwal. He has focused on the destruction caused by the earthquake. The artist has created a meaningful painting ‘Down to earth’, using contrasting colours — orange and blue in subtle way. Symbolising the fact that nature does not discriminate people and their social status, he has painted a huge wheat grain — a man wearing a golden crown is in a squatting position and ducking his head in the painting that has heaps of wheat grains in the backdrop. Artist Silwal has explored meaning of life, using Nepali paper and cutting it in different geometric patterns — decorative forms along with shapes of bee, child, spider, Mandala, auspicious fish among others — in her work titled ‘Jeevan Chakra’ (The Wheel of Life). Her artworks show the life cycle and need/importance of male and female for giving birth to a new life. How? She has used Nepali white paper to “symbolise life which should be simple and light to enjoy the moments of life”. Looking at life in a different perspective is Bhadel who has painted elderly women, capturing their emotions and their attachment to life. In ‘Blessing – Sawbhagyawati Bhava’, she has painted a dark skinned elderly woman. She has donned red coloured clothes and red tika, red pote, bangles and golden earring — for her red is a symbol of prestige as most women of her age are usually a widow or no longer alive. Meanwhile, Ghale has created prints using printmaking techniques where she has captured the lifestyle of today’s youth — clicking selfies and wefies among others. If you want to delve deeper into meaning of life, then visit the exhibition that continues till March 29.