Passages: a subcontinental imaginary |

Gurkha Sons

Images and text by Nina Manandhar

K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film.

Gurkha Sons by Nina Manandhar documents a new generation of British-Nepalis, zooming into forms of collective cultural expression through style, music, sport and the social spaces that these young men inhabit.

Since 2004, Gurkha families have been migrating multi-generational households from Nepal to Britain under new settlement rights. The population of Nepalis in the UK has increased from 6,000 to an estimated 1,00,000. The series featured here was shot in Aldershot, as its close proximity to the army base makes it home to the largest Nepali diasporic community in the UK.

Inspired by artists such as Liz Johnson Artur, Jeremy Deller, Masterji, Al Vandenberg, etc., the subjects photographed here as portrait studies call themselves K-BOYZ, the “K” standing for Kaprukka, the Nepali word for “frozen-stiff,” a reference to how they feel when they go out on their bikes in the cold English weather. K-BOYZ organize and promote their own events, parties, motorbike get-togethers, often hosting events at the Empire Club, a multi-functional space that began its life as a 1930s Art Deco cinema.

But what are the pressures, realities and benefits of coming from a Gurkha family, living in the UK? How does this inform their sense of identity? What are their hopes and ambitions for themselves? And most importantly, where is home?

This ongoing project explores the roles that community and a sense of brotherhood play in establishing identities. It evokes questions around belonging, home and notions of masculinity. Manandhar established contact with these families through  Cultural Studies PhD candidate Premila Van Ommen from the University of Arts, London. The images from the series are juxtaposed with archival images by her uncle, Shridhar Lal Manandhar, mainly of festivals and rituals that were catalogued by the Nepal Picture Library.

Left: Playing carrom at a K-BOYZ event, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film. Right: Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Football players, Sundhara, Kathmandu, Nepal, c. late 1950s, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

Left: K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film. Right: Tyson Rana, K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film.

Left: Untitled, Aldershot, UK. 2018, Medium format film.Right: Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Shridhar Lal Manandhar’s wife, Shanti Manandhar celebrating Bhaitika—an annual festival that celebrates siblinghood—with her four brothers: Shanta Raj Manandhar, Sanu Kaji Manandhar, Shyam Manandhar and Suresh Manandhar (from left to right) at the Manandhars’ residence in Sundhara, Kathmandu, Nepal, c. 1970s, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film.

Left to Right: a) Pushkar Prasad Rajbhandari, Portrait of Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Shridhar Lal Manandhar started his own photo studio in the neighbourhood of Sundhara in the 1960s. He remembers Dr Tulsi Giri, an influential political figure who later went on to become the twenty-third Prime Minister of Nepal, had brought a Swiss camera named Tessina to his studio. “It was a camera that one could wear like a wristwatch—just like in the spy movies,” said Shridhar. Here, Shridhar Lal Manandhar is wearing the same spy camera watch that Dr Tulsi Giri left with him for a couple of weeks. Nepal, c. 1960s, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library. b) Saugaut Gurung, K-BOYZ. Aldershot, UK. 2018, Medium format film. c) K-BOYZ. Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film. d) Shridhar Lal Manadhar, Shridhar Lal Manandhar’s younger brother, Sashi (left), and cousins Mohan and Naranyan Manandhar, at Shridhar’s wedding day at his residence in Sundhara, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1969, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film.

Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Shridhar Lal Manandhar’s sons Sanjeeb and Sabin have their heads shaved by a local barber during their Upanayana ceremony as Shridhar’s sister, Sangeeta, looks on, Nepal, c. 1980,  Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Gaijatra celebrations at Kathmandu Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, c. 1970s, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

Left to Right: a) Sabin Tamang, K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film. b) Om Khan Thakuri, K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film. c) K-BOYZ, Aldershot, UK, 2018, Medium format film.

Shridhar Lal Manandhar, Gaijatra celebrations at Kathmandu Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, c. 1970s, Silver gelatin print. Image courtesy Nepal Picture Library.

Nina Manandhar’s photographs and curated projects explore contemporary global youth identity and the meaning of style. With a background in leading participatory youth arts projects, Manandhar navigates between the worlds of youth arts, photography and cultural research with ease; underpinning her work is a will to champion authentic voices in commercial and arts based commissions alike. Manandhar is the author of the cult style title What We Wore: A Peoples’ History of British Style (Prestel, Random House). She has presented projects at the Photographers Gallery, the Museum Of London, RIBA, Tate Britain and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has also produced commissioned work for Vogue, The Fader, Financial Times, Getty, Nike, Adidas, Dr Martens, Showstudio and the British Council.