The Visible Forms of Invisible Wonders:
Govinda Sah Azad

Gerard Houghton

Gerard Houghton: Govinda, please tell me about where you come from originally.

Govindah Sah: I was born in Rajbiraj, in eastern Nepal, south of Everest and just 12 km. from India. Most people there are subsistence farmers, growing rice, wheat and vegetables on good fertile land. Overall, it’s a difficult area in which to survive and, because of frequent flooding, can be quite frightening. I was the fourth of six children, and my parents worked hard to look after us properly. My mother, though illiterate, was a clever woman who, having struggled her whole life, was determined her children should get a proper education.

G.H.: How did you first become interested in Art?

G.S.: Well, I was a very shy boy, forever hiding in corners, and spent a lot of time by myself, but, I was always interested in how things worked. If a radio fascinated me, I’d open it up to work out where the sounds came from. I managed to break all kinds of things, so my parents were scared whenever they saw me playing with anything. To understand things better, I’d sketch them out, until I had notebooks filled with drawings. Instead of encouragement, though, I usually got punished. Since my family couldn’t afford to buy paper, I’d tear pages from my brother’s school books to draw on. When they discovered another missing page, they’d beat me. I’d record things exactly, and it felt good seeing each finished drawing.