HAPPY NEPAL !!! PROSPEROUS NEPAL !!!
HAPPY NEPAL !!! PROSPEROUS NEPAL !!! ,2019 onward
Hit Man Gurung's ongoing performative photography series 'Happy Nepal !!! Prosperous Nepal!!!'from the series “ I Have to Feed Myself, My Family and My Country...”
Medium : Performative Photography
Size: Variable
Contributing‘ Photographer: Sheelasha Rajbhandari
This series has only been completed in 6 out of the 77 districts of Nepal. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the process has been delayed...
1.In front of the District Administration Office in Besisahar, Lamjung. The office issues hundreds of passports each day to those seeking foreign employment …
2.… this bridge is not just to cross the river …
3.… not too long ago, this abandoned small town was a bustling junction for traders…
4.… a dream project for thousands of Nepalis, this factory stopped its operations as it was unable to compete with Indian tyres …
5.… memories of the many Martyrs of the People’s War are still fresh on these walls…
6.… earning only 250 rupees a day is not enough to feed my family…
7… how many relatives and friends came to say goodbye before the bus arrived …
8… the only land we have is this tiny hut. Working on the soil of the landlords is free labour, it doesn’t fill our stomach, but it fills their storehouses …
9… before, during this season, all of this land was full of wheat. Left fallow, it has now turned into a grassland. We stopped plating crops here 3 years ago because my sons were frustrated with the low income from farming. They are more attracted to foreign jobs and the lucrative salary it offers…
10… my son was the first person who left for a foreign job from our whole community.* But he came back empty handed, now I have to pay back the loan we took out to send him in the first place. I have no idea when he will realize that he needs to go back again to earn money so I can clear this debt…
*the 'Dom' are a socially marginalized caste group from Nepal’s Tarai.
11… there is not a single house in this entire village whose family member is not working in a foreign country…
12… i have 3 sons and 4 daughters, 4 of my children are married, but 2 of my daughters are yet to be married. I need at least 150,000 rupees to pay the dowry for each daughter. My two sons are working in Saudi and Qatar. I pray every day that my sons will send the money to marry off my remaining 2 girls…
