Date of Award
8-22-2025
Date Published
September 2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art Photography
Advisor(s)
Laura Heyman
Keywords
Domestic Labor;Language and translation;Memory;Motherhood;Nepal;sensory geography
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts
Abstract
This thesis explores maternal labor, silence, and family boundaries through my experience of growing up at Hotel Thai, a restaurant and home located on the open border between Nepal and India. The hotel is run by my three parents: my mother, my father, and his first wife. My two mothers live and work side by side every day but do not speak to each other. Their silence is not emptiness, but a way of surviving and holding the family together. This paper discusses my film, performance, installation, and printmaking works to explore how care, memory, and labor are expressed without words. The work looks closely at the physical tasks my mothers perform like cooking, cleaning, and managing the hotel as well as the emotional weight carried through these daily routines. I use family photo albums, financial records, performances of domestic labor and gestures like braiding hair and folding dumplings to reflect on repetition, sacrifice, and the roles women play in keeping the family intact. This paper combines personal storytelling with analysis of images, objects, and actions to think about how silence, love, and tension exist together.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Tamang Pakhrin, Tripty, "WELCOME TO HOTEL THAI: Labor, Love, and the Space Between My Mothers" (2025). Theses - ALL. 982.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/982
