Images of a man wearing gasmask against the haze of pollution in Kathmandu’s streets have been making rounds in the social media recently. This man is thirty-three-year-old Milan Rai, famously known as ‘Butterfly Man’, staging a symbolic protest against the increasing dust pollution in Kathmandu.

He wears gas mask completely covering his face, carries a broom and stands in the midst of dust clouds on the roads of Capital.

“We won’t have a society if we destroy our environment,” says Rai, adding that the gas mask also symbolically ‘filters invisible political pollutions’ that are seriously affecting the health and wellness of citizens.

In his recent facebook post, Milan Rai shared: “Cloth masks commonly used by the general public are useless against pollution. Therefore, I am wearing a gas mask which is used to protect oneself from poisonous elements. I am also carrying a broom which symbolises the air element and is used to sweep out negative energy.”

This high-school dropout has spread his art products—butterfly cutouts—to over 40 countries.

Talking about his failure to continue his academic study, Rai said though he wanted to pursue art, academically, he could not do so because he didn’t have a SLC certificate.

Here are images of Milan Rai staging performance art against pollution in Chabahil, Kathmandu on Sunday.

Photographer: Milan Adhikari / The Kathmandu Post

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