15 January 2025
Some journeys are measured in miles travelled. Others are measured in the connections made along the way — the conversations shared, the barriers broken, and the moments of unexpected unity discovered in unfamiliar places. For our scholarship holder from Iceland, Brandur Bjarnason Karlsson, his fourth journey to Nepal, undertaken from 4 November to 21 December 2024, was very much a journey of the latter kind: one defined not by distance, but by the powerful and unifying force of art shared across cultures.
A Fourth Return to Nepal
That this was Brandur's fourth trip to Nepal speaks to the depth of connection he has built with the country over the years — a relationship clearly rooted in more than casual curiosity. Each return visit offers the opportunity to deepen existing relationships, discover new communities, and continue building bridges between his own artistic journey as a mouth painting artist and the lives of the people he meets along the way. This year's extended, nearly two-month stay allowed him the time to pursue precisely that kind of meaningful, sustained engagement.
Painting Together, Across Every Boundary
Among the most memorable moments of the trip were two special events organised by Brandur, held on 9 and 14 December 2024, in which children and adults were invited to paint together with him. The first of these gatherings took place in a school, bringing Brandur's art directly into an educational setting where curious young minds could engage with painting alongside an artist whose technique — guided by mouth rather than hand — likely opened their eyes to entirely new ways of thinking about creativity and ability.
The second event carried an even more striking symbolic dimension, taking place at a sacred Hindu temple. Painting together within such a spiritually significant space added a profound layer of meaning to the gathering, blending themes of creativity, community, and reverence in a way that few settings could have matched. As word of the painting event spread, passers-by became aware of the painters, drawn in by curiosity and, quite possibly, quiet admiration. In these unplanned, spontaneous moments of public attention, the deeper purpose of Brandur's visit crystallised: a powerful, visible demonstration of art's unifying power, capable of drawing together strangers, students, worshippers, and artists alike around a shared creative act.
An Exhibition Fit for a Palace
If the painting events offered intimate, grassroots moments of connection, the trip's undisputed highlight arrived on 15 December, with an exhibition of the artworks held in the truly extraordinary setting of the historic Royal Palace in Kathmandu. Few venues could lend such weight and grandeur to an exhibition of this kind, and the choice of location underscored the significance that this collaborative project had come to hold — not simply a personal artistic endeavour, but an event worthy of recognition within one of Nepal's most historically important buildings.
Adding further depth to the occasion, representatives of Nepal's emerging disability rights movement were invited to attend, bringing their own perspectives and experiences into direct conversation with Brandur's artistic journey. Their stories and the challenges they described were, by all accounts, very inspiring — offering a sobering yet motivating reminder of the work still needed to advance disability rights and inclusion within Nepal, even as the exhibition itself stood as a hopeful symbol of what individuals with disabilities can achieve when given the opportunity and platform to do so.
Art as a Bridge Between People
Reflecting on the trip as a whole, its deeper significance becomes clear: this was a journey that emphasised, time and again, the importance of art as a bridge between people. Whether painting alongside schoolchildren, sharing brushes with worshippers at a sacred temple, or exhibiting finished works before dignitaries and disability rights advocates within the walls of a royal palace, Brandur's time in Nepal consistently demonstrated art's unique capacity to transcend language, culture, and physical difference alike.
The trip also underscored something the international mouth and foot painting community understands perhaps better than most: the need to foster international connections and promote inclusion, not simply as abstract values, but as lived, active commitments — ones that require artists like Brandur to travel, to engage directly with new communities, and to use their craft as a genuine tool for dialogue and mutual understanding.
A Journey Worth Celebrating
Brandur Bjarnason Karlsson's fourth trip to Nepal stands as a powerful example of what becomes possible when artistic passion is paired with a genuine commitment to connection and inclusion. From classroom to temple to royal palace, his journey traced a path that brought people together across remarkable differences in age, background, culture, and ability — leaving behind, in each location he visited, a little more colour, a little more understanding, and a little more proof that art truly does know no borders.
As Brandur returns home from this latest journey, one imagines he carries with him not only new artwork and cherished memories, but a renewed sense of purpose — and, quite possibly, the seeds of what might one day become a fifth journey back to a country that has clearly come to mean so much to him.
Source: VDMFK News