On March 11, the walls of the Taragaon Next gallery were filled with vibrant paintings. The artists, 15 young Tamang girls—aged 11 to 21—from Shankharapur municipality near Sakhu. The municipality is located on the outskirts of Kathmandu Valley, its name unknown to many. The exhibition was titled ‘Indigenous Girls Come Together For Art, Representation and Gender Equality’ where along with the artwork display, various pop up stores—from a Biryani shop to Kombucha sellers—were also present.

The exhibition was jointly organised by Nepal Indigenous Women’s Forum (NIWF) and Forum for Indigenous Girls. The organisers were also a team of young women, aged 19 to 25. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, NIWF organized a two-day workshop on March 8 and 9. The 15 adolescent Tamang girls were given a basic introduction to art with the help of three mentors. The final outcome of the workshop was to create one painting each, which are now on display at the Taragaon Next gallery.

“In December last year, we organised a gender violence awareness workshop with the same group of girls,” said Sabnam Lama, the president of Forum for Indigenous Girls. “This time we thought we’d teach the girls something a little different.”