THE NEPAL ISSUE

Scope: Nepal

16 April 2016

Zishaan Akbar Latif, From the series Ground Reality

Scope is a foray into emerging photo narratives in Nepal, historical and contemporary, and the ways in which they mobilise viewership. This ‘scope’ is about how lines of sight are being established by practitioners within the country, as well the larger South Asian region to surmount visual hierarchies and redraft the vernacular – one that is not only regional in its aesthetics, but challenges the notion of world photography and its definition in the present. Contributing substantially to the flow of images, Nepal is poised to engage on the medium’s future. The issue seeks to look at significant social-political, personal and artistic strands developing in photography from the region.

With support from BPKF

EDITORIAL

New Terrain

NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati

For a decade now, Nepali politics and society have been navigating new terrain – the emergence of a brand new federal democratic republic. In 2006, we forged our very own ‘Nepali Spring’, which ended a 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, and once the euphoria of bringing down an adversary had...

Comparative Testimonies

Rahaab Allana

In a recent book by British correspondent, Thomas Bell titled Kathmandu (pub. Random House), the author’s spirited prose is interspersed with snapshot images – a diary with photos – reporting on life before and after the civil war, then venturing deeper as a resident in the capital city....

A River of Heads and a Wedding

Narayan Tushar Kaudinya

Once billed the ‘bloodiest event in the world,’ the Ghadimai Festival announced an official ban on animal sacrifices in 2015. The ritual killings, which see the participation of millions, has now undergone a revision of norms since 2009 due to mounting pressure from animal rights activists...

New Conversations, Old Photographs

Philippe Calia & Asmita Parelkar

October and November 2015 could be remembered as months in which photography took hold of the community in India and Nepal. As the Delhi Photo Festival’s engaging series of exhibitions and talks started to simmer down, many participants were already flying to Nepal, curious to discover the...