For the last thirty years, Kapil Mani Dixit has been obsessed with the naked human figure. All he has painted are female and male nudes.&nbsp; He has drawn the human body so often that he can paint them from memory. The intention is not to draw perfect bodies like Greek statues, but evoke emotions about human force, frailty or beauty among viewers. “I don’t need models anymore,” says Dixit, who has a solo exhibition Lines of Emotions: Nude Expressions at Takpa Gallery this month. The works break the rules to convey human emotions in a raw, unprocessed style. Fingers can look like toes, and eyes can take the place of heads.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/south-asia-in-the-abstract">South Asia in the abstract</a>, Vishad Raj Onta Only seeing it as nude art would not do justice to Dixit’s pieces. In one painting, a warped female figure is lying on her side, her body spilling onto the ground. “The inspiration for this one was when I saw a woman reclining comfortably in a park,” explains Dixit, moving on to another painting also inspired by a park spectacle: a couple embracing, one figure behind the other making the body look double-headed, multi-armed and hugging itself.&nbsp; Dixit keeps the colours simple and does not hide the underpainting on the canvas. The bodies are jarring but fascinating to look at, they are deliberately imperfect as the artist lets his intuition guide the process.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250103130144_402251ccfa231c45e24caa509dda3b111c3de2c119605db8473cf02fa03fe5d0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250103130144_402251ccfa231c45e24caa509dda3b111c3de2c119605db8473cf02fa03fe5d0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="ART"> </figure>  “I don’t paint over mistakes. They don’t matter to me. Sometimes there are six fingers instead of five,” he says. “I work every day, all the time, fast, in flow. I don’t know what’s going to come out when I sit down to paint.” &nbsp; In many of the paintings at his show, Dixit has abandoned the brush and painted with his fingers, likening this to the feeling of sculpting with clay. The spontaneity and improvisation is different from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">traditional Nepali art forms</a>.&nbsp; But Dixit has faced criticism throughout his career for the nudity he portrays, with some saying it is ‘un-Nepali’. When asked, he replies with the air of someone who is tired of answering this question: “That does not make a lot of sense to me, since I am a Nepali and this is my work. Just look at the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-temple-restoration-after-1934-quake">temples in Kathmandu</a>, you see nudity everywhere.” &nbsp;&nbsp; And yet Nepal deserves a lot of credit: it is a lot more tolerant than many other places in the world today. Even in the US, one of Dixit’s exhibitions was deemed suitable only for people 18 and over. There is no such label at Takpa.&nbsp; “Actually, the art audience in Nepal is quite open-minded to new ideas,” he says. “But I still wish my work would start to be seen more as a form of self-expression, rather than just focusing on the nude aspect. My children have no problem saying in school that their Dad is a nude painter.”&nbsp; Indeed, Dixit thinks he was inspired by his father who used to sketch the human body. He shifted later from drawing landscapes to painting the humanscape.&nbsp; Dixit always knew he was going to be an artist, but it was while pursuing fine art at the University of Texas in Austin that he began drawing nudes. “It was pretty unheard of, for a Nepali, to study art. People were always pushing me towards more sensible fields, like tech,” recalls Dixit, who worked fast food, pizza delivery, and gas station jobs to pay his way. Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/Manandhar-fourth-exhibit-Nepal,2641">Empowering expressionism</a> Dixit says he has gone through phases as an artist, and currently he is fascinated by eyes. Large, complex eyes are present in almost all of the pieces at the Takpa exhibition.“The human eye reveals a person’s naked emotion,” he says. “I started painting eyes during the pandemic after noticing how people’s eyes were full of fear and confusion. And with everyone having masks on, the eyes were much more prominent.”&nbsp; Given the modern taboos about nudity and the lack of understanding of post-impressionist art in Nepal, Kapil Mani Dixit’s exhibition is courageous and contemporary. &nbsp; Lines of Emotions: Nude Expressions by Kapil Mani Dixit Takpa Gallery &nbsp;(4 January - 1 February)

Vishad Raj Onta

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Visible to the naked eye

Whenever Nepali art is mentioned, the first things that come to mind are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival/" target="_blank">thangka</a> paintings or bronze Tara. Now, an exhibition at Europe’s foremost ethnographic museum in Vienna &nbsp;paints a surprisingly vibrant picture of contemporary art in Nepal.
The <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/ausstellungen/nepal-art-now/" target="_blank">Nepal Art Now</a> exhibition at the <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/" target="_blank">Weltmuseum Wien</a> is the largest ever exhibition of modern Nepali art outside the country, and includes 130 paintings, sculptures, video art and installations by 40 artists from Nepal.
“This is an exhibition that showcases the creativity and energy of Nepali artists who redefine the influence of the West, and it shows how the local, national and global permeate each other,” said Christian Schicklgruber, director of the Weltmuseum Wien, who co-curated this exhibition.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-art-now-in-vienna/">Nepal Art Now in Vienna</a>
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Schicklgruber and the late <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/complete-projects-of-Dina-Bangdel,977" target="_blank">Dina Bangdel</a> came up with the idea for a major exhibition three years ago. Bangdel died suddenly in 2017, but the project went ahead in her memory with co-curator Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha of the Nepal Art Council. In the mezzanine of the Weltmuseum is another presentation of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/mithila-art-with-a-message/" target="_blank">Maithil art</a> by female painters, put together by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Himalayan-style-kelly-burkert-book-review,2032" target="_blank">Claire Burkert</a>.
“The hardest part of the exhibition was to select art works from more than 800,” recalls Kayastha. “We worked extra hours to curate it, and had to leave behind many works by artists we knew. But these paintings represent the best of Nepali art today.”
Indeed, the works by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/07/26/using-art-for-social-change/" target="_blank">Hit Man Gurung</a>, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/nepali-artists-showcase-work-on-migrant-workers-in-dhaka-art-summit,1110" target="_blank">Sunil Sigdel</a>, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/amalgam-2014-review,1489" target="_blank">Sanjeev Maharjan</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139" target="_blank">Ang Tsherin Sherpa</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5323" target="_blank">Asha Dangol</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/20/intolerance-of-tolerance/" target="_blank">Manish Harijan</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3817#.XLXCw4kza70" target="_blank">Ashmina Ranjit</a>, among others, represent world-class talent that blend traditional Nepali art forms like paubha, wood carving and metal work, with modern elements. Although ‘modern’ has come to mean ‘western’, the exhibition is proof that Nepal is now recognised as a centre for contemporary art that shuns western homogeneity, and has carved out its own space based on tradition, shared national history, and cosmopolitan influences.
“When you said Nepali art in the past, people expected traditional art forms. What we see at this exhibition is the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary Nepali art, the role of women, as well as the global and local impact of the works. Being an ethnographic institution, it makes sense to have the exhibition at the Weltmuseum,” director general Sabine Haag said at the inauguration here last week.
Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5941#.XLhM1jAzbIU">In Vienna museum, Nepalis worship stolen Buddha</a>, Erwin Melchart
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Even though some of the art works are rooted in Nepali culture and traditions, they use modern forms of oil and canvas, installations and sculptures to address contemporary issues like exclusion, social justice, gender, conflict, the 2015 earthquakes, the commodification of religion, migration and the environment. In fact, many of the works are not just aesthetic or spiritual in their function but are imbued with deep socio-political commentary.
The inaugural ceremony of the exhibition at the Weltmuseum featured the Himalayan Quartet, led by Nepali composer Rupak Kumar Shahisamuda, which played several fusion pieces based on popular Nepali folk songs. The Weltmuseum is located in Vienna’s Hofburg, the winter palace of the Hapsburgs that became infamous for a speech given by Adolf Hitler from one of its balconies after the Anschluss (forced unification of Germany and Austria) in 1938.
Nepal’s traditional carvings and paintings by anonymous masters that adorn temples and monuments have been worshipped over the centuries, and are still regarded as embodiments of the divine. However, they came to be regarded as ‘art’ after being stolen and exhibited in museums in Europe and America, and were detached from their original spiritual value.
The contemporary Nepali art on exhibit here is defined not by its style, but by paintings, sculptures and installations that were created in the past 50 years, with diverse themes ranging from devotional, social commentary, abstract and modern.
Most of the artists have shunned ‘Western’ techniques, and gone global to develop a unique grammar of their own. Says Schicklgruber: “Modernism had Paris, London and New York as its traditional centres of art. In the postmodernist age other cities have joined this exclusive club. One of them is Kathmandu.”
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/new-newa-art/">New Newa art</a>, Sewa Bhattarai
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Before going to Vienna, Nepal Art Now was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-art-now-in-vienna/" target="_blank">pre-exhibited</a> at the Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu in December 2018. Most of the works on display are different from both traditional Nepali art and western postmodernism. You can see influences of Picasso, Matisse and Warhol, but almost as parody. Mona Lisa also appears in Manuj Babu Mishra’s famous ‘selfie portrait’.
Manish Harijan’s audacious renditions of deities duelling with modern cartoon characters are a critique of the commercialisation of religion, and got him into hot water with fundamentalists in 2012. Asha Dangol’s theme deals with disasters like earthquakes and environmental degradation.
One could say that Nepali artists are not influenced by the ‘West’ but by ‘trans-continentalism’, fusing Nepali religious and cultural visual metaphors with modern techniques giving our vernacular a new spin – turning the local into global.
Nepal Art Now
Open daily except Wednesdays
10AM – 6PM
Adults €12
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<h2>Maithil folk art now</h2>
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The mezzanine floor of the Nepal Art Now exhibition at the Weltmuseum in Vienna is devoted to Maithil art from the Janakpur Women’s Development Centre. The separate exhibit proves that contemporary Nepali art needs to look beyond Kathmandu Valley. In the 30 years since the establishment of the Centre, women painters in Mahottari have developed as individual artists, and used traditional techniques and styles to experiment with new expressions. The exhibit includes self-portraits of these ight artists, along with photos and their life stories in their own words: Anuraghi Jha, Remani Mandal, Rebti Mandal, Suhagbati Saha, Madhumala Mala, Manjula Thakur, Sailo Yadav, Sudhira Karna, Komal Purbe, Rajkumari Mandal, Nirmala Ram, Renu Yadav, Pano Das and Indrakala Nidhi. Their paintings are arranged by theme from traditional imagery to depictions of planes, motorcycles, radios, irons and sewing machines. The paintings are fresh, original, and give the artists of Maithil the recognition they are long due. Curated by Claire Burkert.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/mithila-art-with-a-message/">Mithila art with a message</a>, Prakriti Kanel
<h2>The Chitrakars of Kathmandu</h2>
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Ever since <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-life-and-times-of-arniko/">Arniko travelled to the court of Kublai Khan</a> in the 14th century, Nepali artists have ventured abroad, and picked up new techniques. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/pencilling-in-kathmandu-rajman-singh-chitrakar,3379" target="_blank">Raj Man Chitrakar</a> did sketches and watercolours with British resident and naturalist <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3246#.XLbXFIkza70" target="_blank">Brian Houghton Hodgson</a> in the mid-19th century and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5358#.XLbXQ4kza70" target="_blank">Bhaju Man Chitrakar</a> accompanied <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/the-rest-is-history-for-john-whelpton/" target="_blank">Jang Bahadur</a> to Victorian England in 1850. It was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2051#.XLbX2Ykza70" target="_blank">Dirgha Man Chitrakar</a> who travelled to England with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751" target="_blank">Chandra Shumsher Rana</a> in 1908, and there is a long line of Newa artists including <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2051#.XLbX2Ykza70" target="_blank">Tej B Chitrakar</a> right down to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank">Lok Chitrakar</a> in the present day, whose <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11339#.XLbYj4kza71" target="_blank">pauba</a> of Vasudhara is among the exhibits in Vienna.
Coinciding with the Nepal Art Now exhibition was <a href="https://www.dieangewandte.at/en/news/exhibitions/detail?artikel_id=1551192322335" target="_blank">Preserving a Legacy</a>, an exhibition of photographs by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655" target="_blank">four generations of Chitrakars</a> at the <a href="https://www.dieangewandte.at/en" target="_blank">University of Applied Arts</a> in Vienna. The exhibition, which ended on 12 April, included prints by Dirgha Man Chitrakar, Ganesh Man Chitrakar, Kiran Man Chitrakar and Swaraj Man Chitrakar.
Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655">An illustrated history of the Chitrakars</a>, &nbsp;Sahina Shrestha

Kunda Dixit

Nepali Art going places

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936eb9c7e80680e03fe07jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Paintings of the Nepal Art Now Exhibition are in pre-display at Nepal Art Council for the next two weeks before being taken to Welt Museum in Vienna including this triptych by Sunil Sigdel. Photos: NEPAL ART COUNCIL</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weltmuseum Wien,</a> one of the most renowned ethnographic museums in the world, is organising a first-of-its kind exhibition to showcase the best works of Nepali contemporary and traditional art to a worldwide audience.Weltmuseum is collaborating with the Nepal Art Council, a national institution founded in 1962 to promote the arts and artists in Nepal, is the home-country partner and collaborator for this project.The Nepal Art Now Exhibition is scheduled for 11 April–05 November 2019 in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and home to the great Hapsburg connoisseurs of the arts.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/artivists-at-the-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Artivists at the Bank</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936ee9c7e80680e03fe08jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">This exhibition will include 100 art works by 37 Nepali artists and will be the first major exhibition of Nepali art outside Nepal. The selection has been carefully curated by Christian Shicklgruber, Director of the Weltmuseum in Vienna and assisted by Nepal Art Council. It will be showcased at Welt Museum, which used to be the Hofburg Imperial Palace.The project was conceived in 2016, by the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/complete-projects-of-Dina-Bangdel,977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">late Dina Bangdel</a>, and was co-curated by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha from the Nepal Art Council Council. The project was coordinated by Sagar SJB Rana, Vice-President of the Council.“The exhibition will include original art works by the premier artists dating from the 1950s, the senior and the young emerging artists of today will compliment and enrich the collection,” Rana said.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936f29c7e80680e03fe09jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">Some of the art were commissioned especially for the Vienna exhibition, while others were borrowed from collectors and the artists directly. The art works are embedded in the culture and traditions of Nepal but also discuss and probe into current international issues and social concerns, giving them a global relevance.Art historians emphasise the overriding influence of the art of the European masters in the evolution of contemporary art in Asia. The exhibition will demonstrate this cultural cross-pollination and and serve to highlight Nepali talent that builds on the country’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-craft-of-art/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traditional art-forms fused to modern influences and techniques</a>. The curators say that the works of Nepali artists underline the coming of age of Asian contemporary art that now compares well with the best works in the West.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936f59c7e80680e03fe0ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">While art works will dominate the exhibition, some outstanding sculptures and a few representative pieces of traditional metal, wooden and stone art will also be on display in Vienna to demonstrate and inform the international art community and visitors that these genre of art forms occupy equally important and vibrant space in the art of Nepal.A pre-show exhibition will be held at the Nepal Art Council 13-21 December before the pieces are flown to Vienna.Nepal Art Now Pre-ExhibitionNepal Art CouncilBaber Mahal13-21 December

Nepal Art Now in Vienna

Exhibition showcases contemporary Nepali Thangka and Paubha painters <figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d62d9c7e80680e03146bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="930"/><figcaption>Muna Photos: Michael Gordon</figcaption></figure>Walk into most <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paubha</a> or Thangka shops in Thamel or Durbar Marg, and you will probably hear a story about Tibetan monks grinding stone pigments high in the Himalaya. ‘Exotic’ spirituality has become as much of a brand as Iphones used to Instagram it, but in reality most of these paintings are produced by Tamangs, Gurungs, and Newars using inexpensive poster colors in warehouses around Boudha and Bhaktapur.The painting factories may not seem ‘authentic’, but for the artist it puts food on the table. The demands of economic survival and the need for cultural preservation create new terms of authenticity for paubha and thangka.Thangka and paubha were originally ritual objects for Vajrayana Buddhists. Many would like to separate what is sacred and what is sold, but this is a false distinction. The paintings always involved financial transactions.However, as secular art collectors and tourists buy more of them, profit drives commodification.Tularam Lama has been painting for over 25 years, yet he is still at the mercy of gallery dealers who do not share their profits with artists.“We are compelled to sell cheap,” says Lama, who founded the Nepal Association of Thangka Artists. He still strives to maintain artistic integrity, teaching Tamang students to paint with inexpensive pigments as well as to understand the tradition's cultural heritage.Some painters use the market to build connections. Bhim Thapa, manager of Tara Thangka Center in Thamel, donates 25% of his sales to his community in Sindhupalchok. Prior to the earthquake, Thapa’s sales supported orphan children and women’s education. Today he focuses on basic necessities like blankets and food. "Thangka is not about perfect iconography, says Thapa, “to help is my dharma.”At the other end of the spectrum, internationally renowned <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/10/05/devoted-to-painting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lok Chitrakar</a> paints with traditional mineral colors and works with scholastic rigour. He will be the first to gently remind you that paubha and thangka are not the same thing.Paubha was developed by the Newars of Kathmandu Valley in the 7th century. Nepali Princess Bhrikuti is said to have taken some of the images with her when she introduced Buddhism to Tibet 1,300 years ago. Over centuries, Tibetans developed their own stylistic code known as thangka. After the exile of the Dalai Lama in 1959, Tibet and its people gained increasing global popularity. Today, many tourists flock to Nepal as a surrogate for Tibet, hoping to find the monasteries (and thangkas) they saw in TinTin in Tibet and National Geographic documentaries.But what they find may defy expectations: Lok Chitrakar’s use of Hindu gods like Ganesh as icons of Newari Buddhism is not just an artistic choice, but a testimony to Nepal’s unique religious coexistence.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6309c7e80680e03146cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="889">For many, however, maintaining these traditions is oppressive. Historically, thangka and paubha were made by men, but today the field is changing thanks to women artists like Muna Moktan. For her thangka means not just employment but also empowerment. She supports her family and a school of aspiring Tamang artists (mostly girls) with her paintings.“Women need to find a way to live on their own means, and I found it through thangka,” says Moktan.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The art of gods</a>, Tsering Dolker GurungSonam Dolma guides (rather than ‘teaches’) students in ritual pursuit of perfection.Many painting production centers now use transparent plastic overlays to rapidly reproduce outlines. Sonam’s students at the Tsering Art school use black wooden boards thinly coated with ghee and dusted with white chalk- to repeatedly draw until outlies are memorised, “by hand, mind, and heart.” The painters begin and end each day with prayer, to remember the true purpose of their craft.One of Sonam’s top students, Karma Rinchhen Gurung, paints to strengthen his practice as a Buddhist monk. At 15, he entered Samten Ling Monastery, and like his monastic vows, his painting brings him freedom through discipline. He considers his practice meditation, focusing his mind and brush on a single point. People often ask if he paints to make money. He himself wonders: “Am I doing this for dharma or for economic reasons?” Many students at Tsering Art School, including monks, paint for private dealers to afford living in Kathmandu.Read Also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Illustrated-history-of-chitrakars-nepal,3655" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An illustrated history of the Chitrakars</a>,  Sahina Shrestha<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6329c7e80680e03146djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="986"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The foreign interest in thangka and paubha has also encouraged artistic individuality. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3915#.WvP2AH_BXIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tenzin Norbu</a> comes from a 400 year old lineage of thangka painters.Each new generation <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke away from the stylistic trends</a> of their predecessors. Norbu now illustrates modern Dolpo life and has shown around the world from the Rubin Museum in New York to Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. His ancestors never signed their paintings, believing in the collective accumulation of merit. Norbu now champions his distinct style as an emblem of personal entrepreneurship.For some, the craft is a way of maintaining cultural and spiritual lineage. For others, redefining not only what is painted, but who gets to paint affirms the rapid democratisation of the art from. To all artists, the paintings are a means of sacred survival, providing both sanctuary and subsistence.Sacred Survival, an exhibition of seven contemporary thangka and paubha artists 11 to 21 May, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Curated by Michael Gordon.

Sacred survival

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

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