An exhibition of contemporary art from Finland and a performance of Nepali classical music and dance at Baber Mahal Revisited.

From 14th to 30th October, the work of three women artists from Finland: printmakers, Marjo Yli-Antola and Marita Mikkonen and sculptress Umppa Niinivaara, will be exhibited at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited. The opening of the exhibition on the full moon of October was followed by a performance of Nepalese classical music and dance in the open court of Baber Mahal Revisited. The performance, arranged by Infinity International, attempted to recall that of court musicians and dancers of the Rana period.

The high whitewashed walls of Mul Chowk provided the perfect backdrop, with only the anachronism of microphones and the hurried pace of the presentation to remind one of place and time. It was with Suresh Misra's performance of Radha, however, that the power of illusion took hold as the stately male dancer took on varied female moods and emotions with his exquisite hand gestures and intensity of embodiment of Radha's desire, frustration and anger with her lover, Krishna. Homnath Upadhaya's group also provided accomplished performances with the modulated, emphatic and sure voice of Gurudev Kamanth echoing in the courtyard and the clear pitched flute of Sushiv Bishwaakarma rising above.

At the Siddhartha Gallery, three Finnish artists complement and play off each other much like that of tabla, violin and flute. Marjo Yli-Antola and Marita Mikkonen are printmakers. Marjo's hand and eye rely upon photos and portraiture to centre her work, while Marita draws her figures with the ease of a child and the sureness of an illustrator of children's books. Marjo asks that we take on the inner disposition of the women and men she depicts; Marita's animals possess an assurance of form and yet an disarming presence. Both use the print media to advantage, Marjo scratching the surface of her prints or washing out the eyes of her studies or dappling a face with light. Though the torsos are akimbo or at ease, something is not revealed, or what is revealed is that there is an inwardness we cannot get at.

With Marita's series Raven, each print replicates the other: the same dark bird poised above an ink scratched nest presents a variety of moods dependent on the colouring or lack of colour in the print.

When we finally notice the aluminium casts designed by Ummpa Niinivaara, hanging from the ceiling on a far wall, we are pleasantly surprised. Her pods, her larvae, heavy, yet cool to the touch, reflecting the available light of the gallery, seem lifelike yet resistant to life-or is it death they are resistant to? One almost expects their ribbed encrusted forms to morph into an exquisite creature of light or that the occupant that has emerged from the open faced sleeping bag is lurking in the room.

With anticipation one moves to the second floor of the gallery to encounter more of Ummpa Niinivaara's work. The disappointment one has in finding that these three metal castings are all we have to appreciate is short lived. A full range of prints by Marjo Yli-Antola and Marita Mikkonen deepen our understanding of their work. Marita offers us her menagerie of animals, Marjo her portraits. Only now sticks and roots seem to draw the dreaming woman back to the earth. And the animals want in their own way to be encountered, to be seen as they are.