Nhugu Newa MFA Thesis — Nijal Munankarmi

My MFA thesis exhibition was the culmination of three years of research into Newari cultural preservation through design and an attempt to transform a typeface into a lived experience. Built around Nhugu Newa, the exhibition used augmented reality to animate static Ranjana letterforms, making the script interactive and accessible to visitors encountering it for the first time. The physical space was designed as a layered journey: vinyl installations mirrored the stratified architecture of Newari temples, selected alphabets were hand-rendered in plywood as a nod to the community's woodcarving tradition, and a mandala crafted from rice on a red base introduced an element of ritual and ephemerality into the gallery. Prayer flags brought color and spiritual weight to an otherwise black-and-white space. Together, these elements wove typography, abstract art, material craft, and cultural symbolism into a single cohesive environment, one that asked visitors not just to look at Newari culture but to move through it, question it, and feel its depth. The exhibition was not a conclusion but an argument: that design can be a form of cultural continuity, and that a script thought to be retreating still has a future.

Thesis Presentation at the Gallery

Full Exhibition Images

Use of Nhugu Newa Typeface

With my Thesis Committee

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