Youdhisthir Maharjan was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1984, where he attended a military academy to become a doctor. However, later, he decided to study art and came to the United States at 19, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in creative writing and art history from New England College in New Hampshire and an M.F.A. in conceptual printmaking from the University of Idaho. His work is text-based, and his preferred material is paper, mainly recycled texts. He currently lives in Henniker, New Hampshire.

Maharjan works primarily with paper; his exquisite pieces result from manipulating that material by cutting, weaving, and twisting. He also uses text fragments which he works on by erasing some words, highlighting others, or embellishing the pages. Part of his work involves a process that starts with finding the right book, which he often finds in unexpected places. The delicacy of his pieces results from a careful approach, often repetitive and cathartic.

He has had several influences in his works over the years. Eva Heisler, in an interview with him, pointed out that his pieces shared the intricacy and patterning of traditional thangka paintings. Thangkas are Tibetan Buddhist paintings usually depicting a deity, a scene, or a mandala, traditionally made from different materials. To that observation, the artist answered: “My works resonate with the meditative power of thangka paintings and the repetitive labor that goes into making them. I spent a couple of years working as an apprentice at a thangka school. (…) You sit at one place and do the same thing repeatedly for what feels like forever, which is how I work”.

Among other influences are Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) and Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus), to which the artist said: “I am interested in the idea of Sisyphean eternity, monotonous repetition of the same labor over and over again, with no hope or expectation for an end. In the process, I experience a different kind of eternity, the sweet kind that lasts for few material moments but feels like forever, where the time stops, and with it, stops all my questions and worries, where I am free from my existential burden and get a little closer to myself.”

During his residency at dc art foundation, Maharjan will produce a body of works following a project presented to the foundation.