Nepal Picture Library (NPL), a digital photo archiving project run by photo.circle, is putting up its photo-prints on sale.

“All funds collected from the print sale will go directly towards the running costs of NPL,” reads a press note released by photo.circle, the organisation behind the project. “In 2018, we also wish to set up a research fellowship to invite researchers to develop some of our existing collections.”

Photo.circle was established in 2007 as a platform for new photography in the country. Through publications, workshops, exhibitions and commissioned assignment work, photo.circle seeks to create opportunities for photographers to learn, exhibit, publish, and market their work.

Established in 2010 by photo.circle, Nepal Picture Library works toward documenting the cultural history of the Nepali people by encouraging families and institutions to contribute their photos and stories to the archive. Since its inception in 2011, NPL has collected over 70,000 photographs from different parts of Nepal.

Through the work done by NPL, the founders of photo.circle hope to contribute to the study of Nepali photography, as well as generate knowledge and raise questions about how Nepalis and others can explore issues of memory, identity, and history through images.

In the year 2017, the project has focused on digitising two collections: Shridhar Lal Manandhar Collection (which boasts over 9000 images) and Betty Woodsend Collection (comprising over 3000 images).

“With each new collection, Nepal Picture Library is slowly but steadily creating a broad and inclusive visual archive of Nepali social and cultural history,” reads the press note.