Mero Mutu Mero Kala

Twelve years ago I invited UBC medical and dental students to conceptualize the cardiovascular system artistically and Heartfelt Images was born.  It has grown exponentially since then and was the motivation last year for me to invite the 1^st batch of PAHS students to do the same thing.  

First we needed a name for the contest and last year Achyut Koriala came up with “Mero Mutu Mero Kala”  (My Heart, My Art).  In 2011 out of 60 students we had over 30 submissions: photos, paintings, poetry, and a music video.  The winners from 2011 are in an earlier post (see July 2011 in the archive of this blog).

This year Batch 2 was no less creative.  Since we already had a name for the contest the task for this year’s batch was to create a logo.  Carmina Shrestha won the logo contest with her lovely entry below.  It is simple and conveys the link to Nepal (with the flag imbedded in the heart) and two caring hands suggestive of the future care of the Nepali people.

For the actual art contest we had over 30 submissions across all media. The judges had a hard time making their choices but in the end they awarded 3 honourable mentions and three prizewinners.

Honourable Mentions:

Mission of PAHS by Alok Chandra Mahoto.  This was a lovely combination of an anatomical heart painted with scenes of rural Nepal, a medical doctor, and the grounds of the medical school and Patan city.

You reap what you sow by Carmina Shrestha (yep, also the logo winner).  Her installation depicted a tree consisting of a variety of types of heart disease as a result of what is in the soil  (cigarettes, alcohol, high dietary fats, etc).

Heart Animation by Tapendra Koirala.  This was a four slide PowerPoint presentation with an animated cardiac cycle showing the heart beating in time with the changes in heart pressures, volumes and the electrocardiogram.  Very technically savvy.  

The three prize winners (these students were awarded Stethoscopes that Jason and I brought from Canada):

3^rd Place

Mero Mutu Mero Kala by Sajan Acharya was a music video with a selection of lessons to be learned from understanding the heart.  It is on YouTube and definitely worth watching (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41RUnnb1ds8).

2^nd Place

This was an installation entitled World: MY Heart My Art by Seema Bhandari.  The three parts included two women’s hands holding the earth, a map of Nepal showing the three regions (mountains, hills and plains) and a heart bracketed by the Nepali flag. It pointed out that the only difference between “heart” and earth” is the position of the “h”. 

1st Place

And finally this years first place winner was The Heart by Kamal Sagar Thokar.  He created an exquisite pencil sketch of the heart.  It’s detail and shading rivals anything in the infamous Netter’s Anatomy Atlas.

So what did I learn this year from running Mero Muto Mero Kalo 2012

1)   all students around the world procrastinate:  90%  of entries were submitted in the final 48 hours.

2)   The depth and range of the creative talent of PAHS medical students is astonishing

3)   Poetry remains a strong form of expression in Nepal

4)   Earth and Heart are the same word only different by one letter (HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE???)

and the beat goes on….