Week 2 of ITP: Thoughts and Feelings (Roshan Mishra, ITP 2018, Nepal)

Hi Everyone,

This is Roshan Mishra, Director of the Taragaon Museum, the first architectural documentation museum of Nepal, based in its capital Kathmandu.

After a long stay in the UK, I return back to Nepal about 5 years ago. This year I have returned back to London as a participant of the ITP 2018 programme at the British Museum. 5 years ago, I was not a museum professional: I was just an artist and interior designer, and at that time my perspective of seeing objects in the museum was a little different.

Now we have had two weeks of ITP and it has been fantastic since the start. This whole experience wouldn’t have been possible without Claire, Jessica, Rebecca and Andrea’s planning and support. I would like to thank you all for making this happen.

The photo below in the Great Court was taken on our presentation day: it was really a proud moment as one of the ITP participants. I have being talking with everyone in the group and all have been reflecting the same vibes. It has been wonderful to meet all these museum professionals and I think our knowledge-sharing experience could turn into a very fruitful collaboration in the future.

In the past, I have been to the British Museum so many times, and this time while I am here for the programme, I feel as if I have been dissecting the Museum in depth. There is so much going on behind the scene; it is indeed the best learning experience I have ever encountered. The course is so well designed: it allows us to explore and understand the different elements and components of museum duties and responsibilities. Every day is a different day here on the ITP. From security to scientific research, from collections to conservation and from standard procedures to collection storage practices, I have had a great opportunity to learn so much in such a little time.

All my visits in the different galleries within the British Museum and in other museums have given me a huge number of ideas and inputs, which I would have never acquired without being on this course. As I curate permanent collections and other exhibitions, it has also been very supportive for me to walk with the department curators in the galleries and talk about the objects, their journeys, the texts and labels, and the overall planning and curatorial works. Creating a story about random objects, pinning and packing objects, a series of lectures, brainstorming sessions about my Object in Focus exhibition proposal and department visits were some of the exciting highlights of week two.

We also had pre-planned trips in our schedules over the past week. We went to the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, where we saw the redesigned marvelous architecture by John Nash, filled with the finest Chinese impressions and objects. Next to the Royal Pavilion we also visited Brighton Museum, where I was not at all expecting to see the 1986 Turner Prize winners and my favourite contemporary artists Gilbert & George (Artist Rooms touring exhibition)! An Asia Department Greenwich trip by boat to visit the Cutty Sark and the National Maritime Museum, and trips to the Shard and Sutton Hoo were also really exciting and productive tours and visits.

Lastly, what timing to be here in London and see the works of Auguste Rodin at the British Museum in the temporary exhibition Rodin and the art of ancient Greece. It was a dream come true to visit this exhibition and also get a chance to meet with curator Ian Jenkins. It was just thrilling to encounter one of the world’s most sensual and seductive sculptures, The Kiss. And of course Rodin’s The Kiss reminded me of my own work influenced by him entitled The Eternal Kiss, which I am sharing below with you all.

I am looking forward to four more fantastic weeks with the ITP.

Roshan