‘Drifting Toward the Red Star’ 2022– is an ongoing project through which Jagdish Moktan explores his family history, combining portraits with images from his family’s archives, photographs, socialist literature, communist ephemera and educational materials. Central to this exploration is the journey of his father, who migrated to the city as a young boy, becoming a thangka painter to forge his livelihood. For many young men from the Tamang community, joining the thangka painting industry, while women worked in carpet factories, was one of few options for survival. Moktan’s father was working as a thangka painter at a time of rising sociopolitical awareness among the oppressed.

As a thangka painter, like many working-class Adivasi individuals, Moktan’s father was drawn to the ideals of communism in the 1990s. Both Marxism- Leninism and Maoism became potent forces in Nepal for rising sociopolitical awareness among the oppressed, galvanising them into action. Through both large-scale demonstrations and armed resistance, thousands of martyrs gave their lives to the cause of dismantling feudal and casteist structures in favour of a federal, democratic, inclusive and secular state. Acknowledging his father’s struggles, Moktan’s works bring forth moments of nostalgia, intricately woven memories and, ultimately, the profound connection between marginalised communities, the burgeoning communist movement and Indigenous activism.