Photography as a discipline has been constantly reinventing itself. It has become a powerful medium to engage with critical questions. With this in mind, Photo Kathmandu, Nepal’s first photography festival, will be hosting a weeklong series of events from November 3 to 9, to celebrate and engage more with this powerful medium.

The festival will bring photographers from around the world to the alleyways and courtyards of the old city of Patan. The programme includes 18 print exhibitions featuring photographers, archives and collectives. Each of these works focuses on different subject matters, but collectively they document sociopolitical change in Nepal. For instance, Nepali photojournalist Bikas Rauniyar documents Nepal in the 90s as a young democracy still finding its legs; Australian photographer Philip Blenkinsop portrays Nepal striving to find its balance amidst revolutions and protests; Nepali documentary photographer Kishor Sharma captures the last nomads of Nepal; and Nepal Picture Library unearths stories from its vernacular archive.

“The festival is an opportunity to create professional networks, and serve as a bridge between the local and the global to put Nepali photography on the world map”, says NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, festival co-director.

ARTIST : TUOMO MANNINEN (FINLAND)

This year, Photo Kathmandu received a total of 545 submissions from around the world. From these submissions, 80 outstanding bodies of work, representing 31 countries have been selected. These works will be shown as slideshow presentations in various public venues in Patan. By anchoring its full programme in the historic heart of Patan and making it free for the public, the festival organisers seek to take photography, a medium that is typically limited to galleries and print media, to the general public. Furthermore, by rooting its activities in public venues in history-rich Patan, the festival also wants to bring attention to the need of celebrating and preserving Nepal’s heritage.

In terms of exploring photography as a medium and art form, the festival offers fresh insights and alternatives with its carefully designed programming. It aims to do this through workshops, which will teach participants how to visually engage in editorial processes and social justice campaigns and instruct them on the process of crafting a good narrative. These workshops will be led by tutors such as Danish photo-editor Thomas Borberg, French-Belgian photographer Frederic Lecloux, Indian oral historian Indira Chowdhuri, British anthropologist Chris Pinney and communications expert Robert Godden.

ARTIST : LUISA DORR (BRAZIL)

Besides the workshops, there will also be events such as portfolio review sessions and artist talks, to facilitate interaction among Nepali and visiting photographers. Similarly, with the eight-day long Photo + Jazz Residency, mentored by Belgian curator Philippe Van Cauteren, artists working with sound and visuals will collaborate in an interdisciplinary language. In order to further engage emergent local visual voices, an instameet has also been planned, as a platform for Nepali instagrammers to physically collaborate on a pop-up exhibition in Patan.  This instameet will take place on Saturday, November 7, from 9 am to 12 noon.

Besides the regular festival programming, GalliSalli, an app developed in collaboration with Nepal Picture Library, KathaSatha and Kazi Studios, will also be launched during the festival. This app is primarily an interactive, location-based guide to the historical, cultural and locally cherished landmarks in Nepal. The app can be used to navigate facts about history, explore folklore, learn about local cuisines, understand the arts, and listen to the anecdotal tales about interesting lives lived in Kathmandu Valley. The Photo Kathmandu festival programming will also be embedded in the app, giving users access to the festival schedule—print exhibitions, slideshow presentations, workshops, artist talks and portfolio reviews.

ARTIST : ANALS BOILEAU (FRANCE)

The festival hopes to generate direct income for Patan, with attendees and guests occupying local hotels and guest houses dining in the cafes and restaurants. It will engage with Patan’s youth clubs and other community groups to manage all exhibitions and events. The festival organisers wish to serve local menus that will be prepared by local women’s groups for its opening and closing events. And the festival will raise funds to rebuild at least one heritage site in Patan—as a concrete way to give back to its host city. With a diverse set of programming targeting a wide audience and interest groups, the festival is set to appeal to both the global and the local.

ARTIST : PRASIIT STHAPIT (NEAPAL)

Featured photographers and collectives

Bikas Rauniyar (Nepal); The BIND Collective (India); Kamara Projects & Rene Fan (Nepal, Canada); Frédéric Lecloux (Belgium); Nicolas Marie (France); Nepal Picture Library; Kishor Sharma (Nepal); Maia Ruth Lee/ Peter Sutherland (South Korea & US); Nepal Photo Project; Christiane Brosius, Rajendra Shakya & Sujan Chitrakar (Germany & Nepal); Philip Blenkinsop (UK/Australia); Prasiit Sthapit (Nepal); Surendra Lawoti (Nepal); Tuomo Manninen (Finland)

List of workshops

Translating the Voice: Explorations in Listening and Writing—Indira Chaudhary

Visual Thinking in the Editorial Process—Thomas Borberg

Photographing the Everyday—Frederic Lecloux

Writing Photography—Christopher Pinney

Using Visual Media for Social Justice Campaigns—Robert Godden

Beyond the Camera—Kishor Sharma, Shikhar Bhattarai and Prawin Adhikari

Some Artist Talks

Retelling Histories: A Shared Presentation by Educators and Students—Niranjan Kunwar & Sharareh Bajracharya (Nepal)

YU: The Lost Country—Dragona Jurisic (Ireland)

After an elusive World—Anne Golaz (Switzerland)

Living with Photographs: Being a Collector—Isabelle Darrigrand (France)

The Earthquake & the Image—Austin Lord/ Sam Reinders/ Narendra Shrestha (USA/South Africa/Nepal)

Finding Your Voice—Shailendra Kharel (Nepal)

ARTIST : ZARA SAMIRY (MOROCCO)