About a Living Culture Jackson Heights Queens, New York

About a Living Culture

About a Living Culture asserts that culture is not something preserved in isolation, but something practiced, negotiated, and shared among diverse communities.

The sculpture draws from architectural thresholds and ceremonial structures I grew up around in Kathmandu, as well as jhallar, the decorative fringe commonly used in South Asian rituals, processions, and domestic spaces to mark moments of care, protection, and gathering. Repeated calligraphic gestures derived from Devanagari script form a structural language that creates rhythm and pause. As in my paintings and murals, language becomes material, shaping space and experience.

The jhallar introduces movement into the work. As it flutters and shifts with the wind, it becomes the living element of the sculpture, continually responding to its environment. In contrast, the steel structure remains fixed and grounded, symbolizing the enduring foundations of culture. Together, these elements reflect how traditions remain rooted while adapting across time and lived experience.

The work also speaks to the presence of living practitioners who carry these traditions forward every day. By existing in public space rather than remaining confined to museum interiors, About a Living Culture affirms that these cultural forms belong within daily life. It is a declaration that we are not artifacts of the past, but participants in an ongoing, living culture.

About a Living Culture is created in partnership with the Rubin Museum of Art and NYC DOT Art. Fabricated by Black Cat Labs.