‘Change of Course’ is an exploration of a contested portion of Nepali land within India. Susta was once perched firmly on the west bank of the Narayani River, which has long been considered as the border between Nepal and India. But with the river changing course due to climate change, and cutting persistently into Nepali territory, the village today finds itself on the east of the Narayani.
I have photographed Susta as a character, an individual. Its sadness, loneliness, isolation is what I am trying to show through these photographs.
This is a petition to the people of Nepal and the world for change in Susta, for resolution of the dispute between the two countries, and the building of retaining walls along the bank of the Narayani. This is a poem dedicated to the people of Susta, their sorrow, their grief, their determination, their resistance, their persistence, their isolation.
“A petition is a poem, a poem is a petition.” (The Dreamers, Bernardo Bertolucci).