Jesus Shrestha: From Kathmandu to Helsinki, to reflect the roots of eastern myths in western-style art

In the ’90s, NTV, Nepal’s first and only television channel then, used to broadcast Mahabharata and Ramayan serials in the Hindi language. Scores from oldies to kids would watch the series enthusiastically. Those were the times when children got influenced by the stories they saw on TV or the folktales told by their elders . And, those were the times when Jesus Shrestha unconsciously nourished his dream of becoming a visual artist and designer.

Shrestha, who is based in Helsinki of Finland since 2011, says his paintings and other artworks still reflect those roots. Through painting, installation, illustration, music and more that he learned in a European environment, he is expanding the horizon of perspectives, which used to be transmitted orally and rarely documented during his childhood and before that.