Migration | परदेशी

Migration: Departure, Migration: Journey, and Migration: Return form one complete triptych.

Migration has become one of the defining realities of contemporary Nepal. Every year, people leave their homes in search of employment and a better future, travelling across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and many other parts of the world. Although the destinations differ, the experience often carries the same mixture of hope, sacrifice, uncertainty, and responsibility toward those waiting at home.

Migration brings together three connected moments of migration: Departure, Journey and Return. The triptych follows a physical movement across borders while also reflecting the emotional changes that come with leaving home, living away from family, and eventually returning.

The flowing water that connects the three paintings comes from a childhood memory. I often heard older generations describe someone who had gone abroad as being “Saat Samundar Paari”, meaning “across the seven seas.” The exact destination was sometimes unknown, but the phrase expressed an enormous distance from home. In this work, the sea is not simply a geographical place. It represents the distance, longing, uncertainty, and separation that exist between home and an unfamiliar world.

The luggage trolley appears at the beginning and the end of the triptych, changing its meaning throughout the work. At departure, it carries hope, expectations, and plans for the future. On return, it carries memories, responsibility, and the experiences gathered far from home. The central figure represents the many people whose lives are shaped by migration and whose absence is felt by the families and communities they leave behind.

Migration does not tell the story of one individual or one destination. It speaks to a shared human experience. It is about those who leave, those who wait, and those who return carrying memories that no suitcase can hold. It reminds us that migration is measured not only by the distance travelled, but also by the emotional weight carried between home and elsewhere.

Ultimately, the distance travelled is not measured only by geography. It is also measured by what a person carries emotionally between home and elsewhere.