Krish Tamrakar

Krisha was born in 1995 and comes from Patan, traditionally the city of artisans. Her family were artists in a different sense, running a factory making wooden toys. Such toys include those familiar to visitors, like figures and those intriguing jigsaw-styled pieces, including educational toys and wheeled toys.

She completed her Bachelor's in Fine Arts, taking Graphic Communications as her major subject at Kathmandu University in 2018; she also studied traditional forms of art for two years before deciding that painting, poetry and writing were her real passion. Unlike many artists, she has been drawn to a much less obvious style of art, and more recently studied Graphic Communications for her Master’s.

She specialises in the illustration of children’s books and has begun expanding her talents in poetry and developing a new direction in writing. She likes to explore cultural themes in her art through personal experiences, but the medium she uses makes her art extremely unusual. Although based on initial designs on paper with outlines using regular tools, she then utilises ultra-modern digital software technology and special pens to create purely digital images. At first sight to an untrained eye, it is hard to see the difference between a painted image and her digitally created samples. It’s a very surprising form of art; in no way does the use of modern mediums dilute the skill and talent that Krisha has shown as an artist of future directions. Developed during lockdown, be sure to watch for her forthcoming project: ‘Inside’.

‘I wish I could fly’ was her first book, published as part of her Bachelor’s degree. She has a new book on the way; ‘Yomari’; both books showcase her writing and poetry as well as her digital artwork.

She is also very much involved with the artudio project with her husband Kailash, and together they hold workshops and camps, some for children. Every Saturday they hold sessions at the studio for artists, lay visitors and anyone seeking to learn more about the world of art in Nepal. They run a biannual workshop called ‘Little Arniko’ and hold sessions at the Village Community Centre in Dolakha to give something back to the rural population. They hope this will encourage art in the countryside that would otherwise be unable to develop.

Krisha and Kailash have managed, despite many hurdles, to follow their passions in art – it is not an easy way of life, with little security. Yet they have managed to be self-sustaining and have even been able to offer encouragement to younger artists through their endeavours at Artudio.