What do you see in the picture on the left? A woman dressed in red and white, lying in the grass with a book, seeming at peace on a sunny day. How does that contrast to the one on the right, where women hold their fists raised in defiance? At first glance, the one on the right invokes a sense of determination and resistance, while the one on the left seems passive, almost idle. Both, however, are in fact representative of the fight for women’s rights in Nepal. On the left, a woman studies for her Masters in Law at UC Berkeley and would later return to Nepal to create an NGO providing free legal aid to women. On the right, members of the Women’s Security Pressure Group, formed in protest against the heinous rape of an 11 year old girl, hold a rally. These photos are taken from the Feminist Memory Project, an exhibition to document the feminist movement in Nepal through public memory and their everyday forms of resistance.
Behind the collection of these photographs is NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, a Nepali photographer. First exposed to social issues during her time working as a volunteer at the Family Planning Association of Nepal, she became passionate about developmental issues at the Association.[1] This would lead her to study the Social Sciences, alongside Art, at a college in the US.[2] After college, she completed an internship with the NGO Equal Access and worked with community radio programs until her return to Nepal in 2006, where she would blend her passion for activism and art.[3] Participating in the People’s Movement that toppled the Nepal monarchy and instigated the country’s democratic transition in 2006, Kakshapati discovered photography not only as a medium of “[telling] stories and [documenting], but also getting people to act.”[4] She founded photo.circle in 2007, a platform for photographers and other storytellers to share and discuss their work in the context of social change in Nepal.[5] Four years later, this platform would give birth to the Nepal Picture Library and the Feminist Memory Project.[6]
The Nepal Picture Library is a “digital photo archive of Nepali social and cultural history,” that has collected over 100,000 photographs and other archival materials as of 2018.[7] The Feminist Memory Project emerged as a part of the Nepal Picture Library to capture the participation of women in pivotal moments of Nepali history, illustrating this history in six parts: The Women of the People, The Words of Women, Reading Under the Candlelight, A Room of One’s Own, Out in the World, and Women for Women.[8] Inspired by a reading seminar discussing the characterization of memory and history, the project later morphed into a database of the names of women who had contributed to the feminist movement in Nepal and their lives.[9] Examining this database, Kakshapati remarked that Nepali women have participated in the sphere of social justice for a long time and sought to create a register to capture these moments.[10] As demonstrated through the photographs above, this participation occurred through public spaces, such as the political struggle of rallies and protests, as well as quieter forms of activism, including women’s influence of public opinion and their educational paths.[11]
Part two of the project, titled “The Words of Women,” focuses on the power of reading and writing, and the intersection between the rise of print capitalism and the democracy movement in Nepal. It depicts magazines and journals, such as the photo below on the left, from the 1950s onwards that center the women’s rights movement.
In part three, “Reading Under the Candlelight”, the project portrays education as a quiet, yet dramatic influence on the everyday lives of women. From the middle of the 20th century, Nepali women began to not only attend but also teach in schools, forming a basis for their professional lives.[12] The photo on the right depicts students of Ratna Najya Lakshmi Girl’s College, a Humanities and Social Sciences school offering morning classes to accommodate the schedules of women with other domestic or professional responsibilities.
These two parts, in combination with the other four, represent women’s public lives outside of their domestic ones, representing how both quiet and bold experiences come together to shape women throughout Nepali history. The project also seeks to highlight mundane moments and the importance of relationships in social activism, through friendship, sisterhood and family.[13] Rooted in the space of intimate connections, Kakshapati prefers to showcase the work in the public sphere, rather than formal art galleries or museums.[14] As shown in the picture below, the collection thrives in a public space, such as Patan Dunbar Square, where it is not only accessible but even striking, inviting people to read about the stories behind these photos. In fact, Kakshapati even describes instances of pedestrians seeing the exhibitions, and then contacting the project to contribute their own histories and stories, and the archive continued to grow.[15] Bringing her Western education back to Nepal, Kakshapati highlights the “need to create more opportunities to interact, share and learn from each other within Asia and the global south, and not only look to the west.”[16] The Feminist Memory Project, bringing networks of South Asian activists together, cultivates opportunities for history to be re-written with women at the center, exploring photography and art as a way to foster connection and bridge networks together.
A year ago, when I thought of social movements and activism, I thought of the future. I thought of activism characterized by sweeping protests and crowds, megaphones raised and fists in the air. The Feminist Memory Project, however, helped to challenge my association of activism as solely future-forward and only defined by loud noise and masses of people. Looking to the role of women in the past as a changeable, dynamic force, the project uses the role of history and memory to carve out a space for women in the present public sphere, pushing for a future that will not need to rewrite women into its accounts. This collection of photographs shifted my view of social movements to also consider a role of a kind of quieter, everyday activism that works to dismantle notions of marginalization and patriarchy, one photograph at a time. The Feminist Memory Project taught me that art is a powerful space for activism, and sometimes, pictures speak louder than words. Sometimes, the folds in an old photograph that has been carried in one’s pocket for too long, the wrinkles in one’s eyes from the title of a smile, or a sea of chins raised in determination, are the true forces of change.
Sarah Padwal is a second year undergraduate student majoring in International Relations and Peace Conflict and Justice, with a minor in Contemporary Asian Studies. Throughout her degree, she seeks to understand the intersection between economics, politics and history in international relations, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. She is hoping to expand her knowledge of post-colonial identity and social relations as a Contributor for South Asia this year.
Footnotes
World Bank Group, “Engaging with Social Change through the Visual Medium,” World Bank (World Bank Group, December 7, 2018), https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/12/04/engaging-with-social-change-through-the-visual-medium.
Siong Chung Hua, “Meet Our 2018 Awards Jury: Nayantara Gurung Kakshapati – Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA),” Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA), February 28, 2018, https://invisiblephotographer.asia/2018/02/28/juryinterview-nayantara/.
World Bank Group, 2018.
Siong Chung Hua, 2018.
photo.circle, “About,” photo.circle, 2024, https://www.photocircle.com.np/about/.
Ibid.
CREA, “Borderlines: Feminist Journeys across South Asia,” CREA, August 2, 2024, https://creaworld.org/borderlines-feminist-journeys/#episode-1, [1:21]
FLA Network, “Exhibition: The Public Life of Women, a Feminist Memory Project,” FLA Network, July 2, 2021, https://fla-network.com/exhibitions/exhibition-the-public-life-of-women-a-feminist-memory-project/.
CREA 2024, [8:12-8:33], [9:05-9:32].
Ibid, [10:51-11:16].
Vera List Center for Arts and Politics, “NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati | Vera List Center,” NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati | Vera List Center, 2020, https://www.veralistcenter.org/network/nayantara-gurung-kakshapati.
FLA Network, 2021.
CREA 2024, [12:30-12:43].
Ibid, [4:31-4:43].
Ibid, [3:27-3:37].
Siong Chung Hua, 2018.
Bibliography
Chung Hua, Siong. “Meet Our 2018 Awards Jury: Nayantara Gurung Kakshapati – Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA).” Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA), February 28, 2018. https://invisiblephotographer.asia/2018/02/28/juryinterview-nayantara/.
CREA. “Borderlines: Feminist Journeys across South Asia.” CREA, August 2, 2024. https://creaworld.org/borderlines-feminist-journeys/#episode-1.
FLA Network. “Exhibition: The Public Life of Women, a Feminist Memory Project.” FLA Network, July 2, 2021. https://fla-network.com/exhibitions/exhibition-the-public-life-of-women-a-feminist-memory-project/.
Group, World Bank. “Engaging with Social Change through the Visual Medium.” World Bank. World Bank Group, December 7, 2018. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/12/04/engaging-with-social-change-through-the-visual-medium.
photo.circle. “About.” photo.circle, 2024. https://www.photocircle.com.np/about/.
Vera List Center for Arts and Politics. “NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati | Vera List Center.” NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati | Vera List Center, 2020. https://www.veralistcenter.org/network/nayantara-gurung-kakshapati.