Organised jointly by the Saarc Culture Centre, Sri Lanka, and Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, a four-day Artist Camp, the seventh iteration of the regional art event, will kick off Friday at Gokarna Forest Resort in the Capital. 

The camp, organised with an aim to strengthen the bond between SAARC nations through arts, will see the participation of 34 artists from all SAARC nations, except Afghanistan. 

“The event, which is being organised for the first time in Nepal, we hope, will go on to strengthen the cultural bond, and boost the artistic connection, between SAARC nations, for it is necessary more than ever,” said Bharat Mani Subedi, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Representing Nepal at the event are artists Anita Bhattarai, Erina Tamrakar, Jasmine Bhattarai, Jyoti Prakash BK, Lok Chitrakar, Namrata Singh, SC Suman, Subha Joshi, Sunita Rana, and Uday Charan Shrestha. 

During the camp, the artists will engage in creating artworks on site. The themes assigned for this year’s edition of the camp are: Sacred Site and The Beauty of Nature. The works thus created will later be exhibited in the Resort. 

“The atmosphere of interaction and friendship, cultural connectivity and cultural exchange during the Camp will contribute towards establishing long lasting partnerships in art,” the organisers said.

The Camp will run through July.