RAW, the second installment of Kaalo.101 Art Space’s monthly event series, the Moonshine Affairs, is an exhibition of 17 photographers, most of whom are showing their works at a gallery setting for the first time. While the exhibition, being held the Kaalo.101’s Nagbahal premises, only features photographs, the content and style of the photos vary widely.  

According to Helena Asha Knox, curator at the art space, previous exhibits at Kaalo.101 have always revolved around a theme, however, the present exhibition was conceived without thematic confines and instead is “medium oriented.” As a result, the range of styles and content of the photographs are vast and diverse. The name RAW was chosen for the event as most of the works on display are by fledgling artists and “besides, refinement is something of a pretension,” she explained.

The works on display range from the meticulously composed fashion photography of Pretika Menon to Anjila Maskey’s blurry scenes of the city and its inhabitants that bespeak the spontaneity of its form and content. When asked to speak on her work, Maskey had said that her photos pursue “an equilibrium of sensations through the exposure pre-posing as the model, passing through the kalo and seto, adhyaro and ujyalo”.  Barkha  Mukhiya’s close up Photographs of the body, bathed in light and almost landscape like, even had corollary text that were fragments of love poems. 

The inaugural day of the exhibition, on January 31, saw the exhibition space packed with attendees. The first day of the show had also included live Music, compliments of local band, Baaja, composed of Ashesh Rai, Kishan Shrestha, and Parbat Lawati.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Abishek Shah Nepali, Agrani Thakuri Jha, Arjawa, Astitwa Adhikari, Simran Shretha, Dikesh Maharjan, Jon Barmak, Jyoti Shrestha, Kazi Tahsin Avaz Apurbo, Prajjwal Bhattarai, Prasanna Bijukchhe, Robin Neupane, Rohan Bataju, Rupesh Man Singh, Shehzad Chowdhury, Srijan Ulak, Yusha Pun, and James Kitch.

The month-long exhibition will conclude on Feb 28.