Bikram Rai
Amidst the whine of chainsaws and carvers tapping chisels at the Nepal Academy this week was the internationally-acclaimed American sculptor David Best. Renowned for dramatically setting fire to the wood art he creates, including one commemorating the Irish conflict in Londonderry.
We caught up with the casually dressed septuagenerian (pic) clad in a white shirt and jeans as he coordinated a team putting up a wooden pyramid-like structure made from the ruins of earthquake-damaged structures in Bungamati.
“I would not have come here as a tourist, but I was invited to come and it became more meaningful to work in a community that has faced challenges,” said Best. He is among artists taking part in the World Wood Day event organised by the International Wood Culture Society, IUCN and the government. The exhibits will be on display till 25 March at the Nepal Academy lawn, when Best will set fire to one of his structures.
Born in California, Best knew he wanted to be an artist since the age of six. “I just started making things; that was my protection,” he says. A graduate of San Francisco Art Institute, his works include cars made from recycled material, collages, ceramic sculptures and wooden structures.
The practice of setting fire to the wooden artworks he creates started with his exhibit at the annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada in 2000 which was a tribute to his friend who died in a motorcycle accident.
What started out as the burning of wooden memorials became an annual tradition. The festival asked him to build another wooden memorial the following year and Best dedicated it to people who have committed suicide.
“I am not a Jew, a Hindu or a Catholic so I thought about what I would dedicate the temple to if I were making a temple,” said Best.
For Best, the idea was for his commemorative wooden structures to reflect a place of loss and for the burning to signify closure, and moving forward.
Best did not explain that the suicide memorial at the Burning Man Festival was a tribute to those who committed suicides, but 15,000 people spontaneously wrote their names on pieces of paper and put it inside the structure.
One of Best’s last projects was his Temple in Londonderry in Northern Ireland, commemorating those who died during the sectarian strife. “This was a collective temple, where everybody recognises and embraces a person," he explained, "it is about forgiveness and moving on with life.”
The stucture he built in Kathmandu is not as large as his previous ones. It is made up of pieces of wood salvaged from the ruins of homes in Bungamati, and he will also not be burning the structure. The artwork will go back to Bungamati for the residents to do what they want with it.
“What I was hoping I would do is inspire the village to smile,” says Best. "What we brought to the village is that excitement about creating out of ruins. The village lost its homes, we got the wood from those homes and made something from scratch.”
However, Best feels discouraged by the current condition of the country. “One thing I will take back is the anger about bad water, fuel, the government, and the struggles between China and India," he says. "It just makes me angry that there is such a thing in our world as a third world country. How can so few people have so much wealth and control so many?”
If Nepal is to rise out of the devastation it needs to be rebuilt to suit the youth of today, who should take charge and lead the way for the country.
He adds: "Go completely new because it belongs to the new people. To hell with history and nostalgia, forget the postcards.”
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