'How I Forgot My Mother Tongue', 2019

JUNE 29 - 28 JULY, WALEY ART , No. 6, LANE 322, WANDA ROAD, WANHUA DISTRICT, TAPEI CITY, TAIWAN  108

"How I Forgot My Mother Tongue" - Mekh Limbu

Medium : Multi-media Installation-texts, drawings and photographs from historical archives, educational materials and Limbu Dictionary, video and audio.

Dimension : Variable

Out of the hundreds of languages spoken in Nepal, Yakthung Pan is my mother tongue. Nepal’s centralized and partyless panchayat political system from 1960 till 1990 implemented the 'One Language Policy,' which had devastating consequences for the country’s indigenous peoples. The political strategy of homogenizing Nepal’s diverse cultural identities led to the erosion and extinction of many languages. As a child I spoke Yakthung Pan (Limbu) with my grandparents at home. When I went to school, all the textbooks were in Nepali. The children of our community were forced to learn this foreign tongue, and as we grew up, we even began to distance ourselves from our language. Nepali became the language of governance, administration, and education, everyone needed to learn it for economic mobility. However, as Nepali grew in prominence, the oral traditions, histories, skills, and cultures of indigenous communities disintegrated.