Vendors

Artist moving-image work | Collaborative editing with Max Limbu

Vendors is an artist moving-image work by Max Limbu exploring the precarious livelihoods of vegetable sellers in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through everyday encounters and images of local environments, the film connects individual experiences of economic insecurity with wider questions of migration, dependence on imported goods and changing rural communities. Contrasts between the prices of vegetables and the rising value of gold and silver draw attention to the different ways labour, necessities and commodities are valued. 

Sustika Limbu contributed to the film’s collaborative editing process, including decisions about pacing, fades and overlapping transitions. Max Limbu describes her as an equal creative partner in shaping these sequences. Heightened colour and dreamlike transitions create a tension between the visual treatment of the footage and the difficult circumstances it records. References to classical cinema introduce a reflective rhythm, allowing observations of everyday life to extend beyond straightforward documentation and become a meditation on social and economic change.