29–year-old Nepali visual artist and photographer Jyoti Shrestha is set to exhibit in the official collateral exhibition of the 61st Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, 2026, ‘Personal Structures’.

The exhibit is organised by the European Cultural Centre (ECC) and runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026. It features 150 artists from around the world.

Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale is widely regarded as one of the most influential global gatherings of contemporary art. Nepal presented its first official pavilion in 2022.

Shrestha’s inclusion signals the growing visibility of contemporary Nepali voices within international art discourse.

Shrestha is known for her works across documentary and experimental practices. She explores identity, memory, and the tensions between culture and the individual.

Her photography collection, namely ‘Chhyaki’, is set to be exhibited in Personal Structures.

Chhyaki, in Shrestha’s native language, is a word describing the scars left by skin diseases. “My mother calls both of us Chhyaki,” Shrestha told the Post, “to represent that we are both ugly people.”

Today, Shrestha firmly rejects the notion that their identity or appearance is ugly. In this exhibition, however, she examines how such perceptions are inherited across generations. “Through this work, I have explored this weird dynamic between my parents, especially my mother, and me.”

Her photographs also trace how such language and behaviour become internalised within families and cultures. “When I think of it now, it fills me with guilt because there is almost nothing we can do.”

She further explains that her artworks present the complicated idea of intergenerational shame, body politics and identity. Currently, her parents, as she recalls, are happy with the work she is presenting and the recognition that she is gaining.

“I am proud to be exhibiting my work in the collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale,” says Shrestha. “But somehow, without the government’s support, I feel like I am alone in this journey.”

Shrestha is also the winner of ‘Blurring the Lines’, 2025, organised by the European Cultural Centre, Urbanautica and Paris College of Arts. She is an alumna of Angkor Photo Workshop in Cambodia, Pathshala South Asia Media in Bangladesh and PhotoCircle in Nepal.

Shrestha’s works have been presented internationally across Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong and the Philippines.