Renuka Gurung, PhD, 2013
Paubha painter
Media: Mineral and other natural pigments, 24k gold on canvas
Renuka is one of the few women paubha painters as well as an art educator and researcher. Her paintings present precious moments of more than two decades of her arduous journey towards learning the deeper aspects of the devotional painting tradition, “paubha" of Nepal. Paubha is a visual representation of the message of Buddha which, when she first encountered it, was on the verge of extinction. The Newars, one of the groups of indigenous settlers of Nepal, had practised painting paubha, where the painter, while remaining under strict discipline, becomes a medium to bring the message of Buddha into visual reality, for centuries.
Since receiving the Ciclitira Prize (2013) for her doctoral research titled ‘Understanding, Preserving, and Transmitting: the Tradition of Paubha Painting in Twenty-first Century Nepal’, she has focused on furthering understanding of traditional devotional arts and highlighting the role of women in the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. She has worked voluntarily as an art educator at the National Museum in Nepal and exhibits, lectures and teaches at forums across the globe. A regular teacher at the School of Traditional Arts, her paintings were amongst those personally selected by His Majesty The King for exhibition at Buckingham Palace to mark his 70th birthday. She has also exhibited in Nepal, Russia, Dunhuang Research Academy in China, and at the Saatchi Gallery, London in 2023. Her paintings are in the collection of His Majesty The King and other prominent public and private collections around the world.