The Himalayas are more than mountains in the exhibition ‘Voices from the Himalayas’. They become a landscape of memory, identity and change as 11 artists come together at Takpa Gallery in Lazimpat.

Through painting and mixed media, the artists look beyond the familiar image of the mountains to explore the lives, traditions and shifting identities shaped by them.

The exhibit features Chering Gyalpo Gurung, Choenyi Dolma, Hyolmo Pasang, Karma Tashi Gurung, Sahil Bhopal, Sherab, Tashi Druketsang, Tenzin Gyurmey, Tenzin Melak, Wang Lama, and Yeshey Tsogyal.

Several artists approach these themes through their own experiences of Himalayan communities and cultural transformation. Gurung, who comes from Dolpa, has focused on the region’s changing cultural landscape, examining how migration and modernisation are affecting traditional practices and ways of life.

Wang Lama, born in Humla’s Nyin valley, has similarly documented Himalayan landscapes, flora, fauna and everyday life. His work has explored the erosion of cultural and environmental heritage brought about by migration, globalisation and climate change.

For other artists, the Himalayas are also connected to questions of displacement and identity. Tenzin Gyurmey, a Tibetan artist based between Dharamsala and Delhi, combines traditional Tibetan drawing with contemporary subjects.

His work has examined cultural, political, and environmental change, including through paintings on the recycled sacks once used to distribute food to Tibetan refugees.

Sahil Bhopal brings another connection to tradition through contemporary Thangka painting, while Tenzin Melak’s multidisciplinary practice explores identity, Buddhist philosophy and the experience of Tibetan exile.

Together, the artists present the Himalayas not as a static mountain landscape but as a region in constant transformation, where inherited traditions, personal memories and contemporary realities intersect.

‘Voices from the Himalayas’ considers the many ways the Himalayas speak beyond geography—and how those voices continue to change.

Voices from the Himalayas

When: August 22 to September 19
Where: Takpa Gallery, Lazimpat, Kathmandu
Time: 4 pm to 7 pm