American Artist Returns Stolen Sculptures to Nepal With Her Paintbrush · Global Voices
Lakshmi-Narayana – 15th-century stone, 34 inches. Stolen in 1984 from Narayan Temple, Patko Tol, Patan. Image by <PERSON>. Used with permission
Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is an open museum of art and culture. With countless temples, including seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Kathmandu Valley is not only an attraction for art lovers and religious pilgrims, but also for art thieves and smugglers.
Many statues, hundreds of years old, were stolen from the temples after the 1950s, not just by professional smugglers, but also high-profile expatriates and powerful elites. A huge cache of wild animal parts and centuries-old idols discovered by Nepal police during a raid in 2009 at adventurer <PERSON>’s residence in Kathmandu hints at the magnitude of theft and involvement of big names.
Efforts have been made over the years to document the looting, including “Lost Images of Nepal” by <PERSON>, “Gods are leaving the country: Art theft from Nepal” by <PERSON> and “Gods in Exile” by <PERSON>. Inspired by these publications, American artist <PERSON> visited the theft sites and recorded the memories shared by locals. Building on the work done by <PERSON> and <PERSON>, she started painting the sacred places from where the statues were stolen and visually ‘repatriating’, in her words, the stolen sculptures with 23 karat gold.
According to <PERSON>, the gold symbolises commodification of the priceless sculptures and makes them visually stand out in her photorealistic paintings – making people aware of their absence.
<PERSON> is artist & researcher, part of gathering movement for documentation & return of stolen Nepal statuary pic.twitter.com/Jcje8aX4H4
— <PERSON> (@KanakManiDixit) April 8, 2015
“Remembering the Lost Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley”, an art exhibition currently running at Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu, showcases her valuable work.
Recalling what's lost
The movement to restore the stolen artwork is relatively young. 765
During the 1980s, Nepali artist and scholar <PERSON> and German art connoisseur <PERSON> took on the arduous task of documenting the lost statues. The Huntington Archive at Ohio State University showcases the images photographed by <PERSON> in his book “Stolen Images of Nepal”.
After seeing the before and after images of theft idols published in his book, a Californian art collector returned four sculptures in August 1999 and another statue was returned from Berlin, reports Nepali Times.
<PERSON>, an archaeologist studying antiquities smuggling, archaeology and art crime, tweeted a photo from the archive:
Before and after. Sculpture mutilated during a looting attempt. Lost & Stolen Images: Nepal http://t.co/sNQmhrpStz pic.twitter.com/ySH1v13MnX
— <PERSON> (@DrDonnaYates) October 10, 2014
At <PERSON>’ exhibition in Kathmandu, informational panels display historical photographs of the stolen sculptures, current photographs of the sites and information about the stolen sculptures including maps depicting the original theft sites. Earlier, she showcased her works at the exhibition ‘Narratives of Faith and Memory: Remembering the Lost Sculptures of Kathmandu’ in 2013 at the Patan Museum in Lalitpur, Nepal.
Part of <PERSON>’ efforts includes an interactive map and database of stolen artwork. According to the project's website, its contents will be added to the International Criminal Police Organisation's (Interpol)'s own database of stolen art.
Database of lost & stolen #NepaleseArt to be linked to Interpol. Kudos to <PERSON> for her hard work! http://t.co/xUGfTpDtmR
— AMaki (@MakiAriana) April 13, 2015
Where <PERSON> idols were stolen from and where they are now. <PERSON> Exhibit till 22 May @ Nepal Art Council pic.twitter.com/sE8IDlQH7S
— <PERSON> (@kundadixit) April 12, 2015
<PERSON> explains the project further in a YouTube video:
Thanks to the awareness and joint collaboration of government and non-government organisations with local communities, art stolen from Nepal has been documented, and many works have been restored. Most importantly, major campaigns have been launched to preserve the historic temples, monasteries, palaces, and other objects of cultural importance. 765