1. What is your earliest memory of how or what attracted you to photography?
I was introduced to photography formally through a brief course during my high school. I decided to pursue my career in photography after that course. My childhood dream was to become a nurse and at that time I still wanted to become a nurse and I gave an entrance exam too. But that course played a vital role in my falling in love with photography. As I reflect on my childhood memories, I used to collect newspapers and books where there were more photographs. I used to cut them and paste them in my diary.
It sounds so poetic – I loved to see the clouds, different forms and shapes which changed in a moment and changed color with time, and that fascinated me. Still, I love to see the clouds.
2. What was your experience like while studying photography at Pathshala? How has this experience influenced and informed your practice?
In 2012, I went to Pathshala for an exchange program. At that time, I was completely fascinated by their practice. Soon they started an international photography program, which I found better for me, and I joined that course. It was 6 months long, so I took leave from the newspaper job I was doing then.
Studying at Pathshala proved to be a turning point in my journey. I was encouraged to introspect, which led me to know myself better and find my own voice through photography. This proved to be not only in photography, but in life in general.
The course influenced me to dig internally more and question myself, which was helpful to continue my projects. The most important thing I learned from Pathshala was to go beyond my limitations and my comfort zone.
3. If you were to design a photo program for young Nepalese photographers, what would it look like?
If I had to design a photography program here in Nepal, I would focus it around a mentorship program – a one year long mentorship program where photographers learn how to build up their thinking processes on photography. The general awareness in people about photography is that pressing the shutter is everything. Through the mentorship program I would like to teach them all the other important and relevant aspects of photography. I prefer a mentorship program, also, because it is more practical to organize, and people who have like-minded values, interests, and intentions can be brought in to teach.
4. Who or what has inspired you to pursue photography and/or continues to do so?
Even before I started taking photographs, I used to collect magazines, newspapers, and books that had photographs and would cut them and paste them in a diary and keep them. I realized even then that there were very few women photographers working as professionals. And this inspired me hugely to pursue photography. Still the number of women photographers in this profession is relatively low. One person who continues to inspire me is NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati. Also my parents because of their encouragement and support. With time, as I work and my understanding of other peoples’ works evolves, I find that also inspirational.
5. Is there a book, exhibition, or body of work that has really impressed you and maybe influenced your work / life?
There are many instances and experiences that have left an impression in my professional and personal life. I am mostly influenced by peoples’ life stories and their everyday life experiences. There are certain books, exhibitions, and works which I feel more connected to and from which I got courage to resist and rise and have conversations. There are many artists whose works and lives influence my practice. To name just a few: Sohrab Hura, Newsha Tavakolian, Nan Goldin, Antoine d’Agata, and Frida Kahlo.
6. What draws / drew you to the subject matter you are pursuing in your current work?
The current work I am making is about menstruation and the taboos around it. I was confined for 12 days at my neighbor’s place during my first period. After that, I started observing things and asking questions as to why we have to follow such rules and restrictions for something that is such a natural process. When I started photography, it was clear to me from the very beginning that I had to work on this issue, and I started work on it in 2018.
Most of the projects I work on are based on my own experiences and peoples’ experiences who are close to me and around me. In our everyday lives, being women, there are lots of norms and rituals that society has made for us which we are forced to follow. These rituals bind us and suffocate us and make us feel powerless. The question I ask all the time is, “Why are all these things only for us? Why do we have to fight for our basic rights and freedoms?” These are the feelings and questions that drive me and push me to pursue my work.
7. Would you please describe the evolution of your journey from being a photojournalist to your 2017 appointment to the position of deputy photo editor at the Annapurna Post in Kathmandu?
I started my career working at a daily newspaper in 2011. At that time, we didn’t have social media and other such platforms. Photojournalism was widely practiced. It was not for me to choose what to do; all I wanted to do was photography.
I was young and I was very keen to learn and explore. I had to cover hard news to soft news, and sometimes even spent 20 hours a day doing newspaper work. When I started out, many things were happening politically, I gave time to cover the post-earthquake. Besides my time at the newspaper, I found the time to enhance my knowledge in photography by taking photography courses, attending workshops and exchange programs.
In 2017, my newspaper selected me as deputy photo editor. This meant that more responsibility was added to my practice, and I am always very happy to learn things with what ever added responsibility I have.
8. Your projects – Boundless, Unconstrained, Our Songs from the Forest – all deal with issues of gender inequality and patriarchy; however, your choice of visual approaches appear to have been quite different in all the three. Can you tell our readers about your choices and the reasons for them?
I find myself in a position where I feel I have the responsibility to tell the stories of my own experiences and other women’s experiences who feel comfortable sharing their stories with me. I have grown up in a society where the patriarchal system binds us and puts us down at various levels and impacts us negatively in our everyday living.
I try to choose different aesthetics for different projects. In the project titled Boundless, my attempt was to be loud, using the male body and a rope as a symbol of power. I ask men how and what they feel if they are in a woman’s position. Unconstrained is a chapter within Boundless where I try to see things from the outside and from within myself, too. My project Our Songs from the Forest is a collaboration with young women from villages. I choose to work in this language, as I want to respect and value their wishes. Here I am exploring the taboos of menstruation in Kathmandu and my aesthetics are more abstract where I attempt to visualize psychological perspective.
All these works are connected to each other, and the aesthetics I choose are special and arrived at after great deliberation.
9. Do your projects typically run in parallel, or do you focus on one project at a time?
I work on one project at a time. However, mentally I could be processing multiple issues and projects at the same time.
10. How do you measure success or that a body of work is going well? Do you share it with colleagues or others?
For my own clarity, I take time before asking and sharing my work with other people. I decide for myself first if my work is on the right track or not. It is only later that I decide to share with some other friends and the photo community to ask for suggestions and feedback. I am fortunate that I have a community like photo.circle and NayanTara Didi, with whom I feel comfortable to share my work. I also have some special friends and family who understand my process and I can share my work with them.
11. Do you ever find yourself creatively ‘stuck?’ Is there something that is particularly helpful to you in overcoming this?
I started my career in 2011 as a full-time photojournalist in a daily newspaper. That platform gave me the chance to learn about Nepal’s photographic community, culture, struggles and trends. Slowly, I realized that photojournalism was not my area of interest and I began to explore documentary photography. In 2014, I wanted to join a photography school, but because of personal reasons I couldn’t, and I really felt stuck at that time.
However, I was soon able to attend photography workshops and exchange programs that really helped me and pulled me out. And then, of course, joining Pathshala for an international photography program was a turning point in my life. After that, I participated in the Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops and the New York Times Portfolio Review, which helped me to understand documentary photography at a far deeper level.
I am currently doing the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship, which really helps me in my practice. I feel that all these workshops have helped to keep me from getting creatively stuck.
12. How much effort do you put into getting your work shown?
The photography industry is indeed very small. I had an experience which I’d like to share. I talked to an editor about publishing a story of mine. However, another photographer had done work on the same topic and published it with the same editor. The editor informed me that since they had already published a story on the same subject, they couldn’t publish my work even though it had been done with completely different aesthetics. I learnt a lot about the industry from this experience – that even though works can be done keeping in mind different perspectives, it can be difficult to get one’s work shown and get exposure.
Having said that, there are people who understand the value and importance of one’s work and give support, which is encouraging indeed and feeds our creative process.
I must say one has to work hard and never give up – everyone’s work does get noticed!
13. Do you feel that there are adequate opportunities and avenues to share / show your work in your home country, or do you always look for such opportunities abroad?
Unfortunately, we don’t have many opportunities in Nepal. Thankfully, the photographic scenario is getting visibility, though there is a long way to go for us to develop a Nepali photographic identity. It’s helpful to be aware of what’s happening globally, so I do seek and explore opportunities abroad. More opportunities lead to more visibility of the work, which is great.
14. We know that fine art or documentary photography is not always enough to make a living. Some do commercial work, others teach. Are there other photography related areas that you work with in order to supplement your living? Some that you would recommend aspiring photographers might consider?
Fine art or documentary photography, wherein one works on personal projects, only gives me a personal satisfaction. To earn a living, as mentioned earlier, I work full time as a deputy photo editor for a daily newspaper. I also do assignments for international media, NGO/INGOs. And my advice is to do the same to other photographers.
15. Digital technology has changed photography drastically over the last few years. Did you initially embrace the changes or resist them? Do you believe the changes have been good for the medium?
Updated technology certainly plays a vital role in our practice. Before I got into photography, there was analog technology and I heard so many wonderful stories about how photographers worked, and the traditional photo studio business that were so popular. Now with digital technology we get access to the final image or video clip within a minute. No one waits for the next day to see the news. I am personally in favor of the fast technology that the digital medium provides, as this is much needed too.
In my opinion, the digital change has been both, good and bad for the medium. However, if we utilize it in the proper manner it will continue to play a good role otherwise not.
16. With your years of experience (perhaps not that many), of the lessons you have learned, what is the one thing you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
The main thing I learnt from my own experience is to never give up. We should try and try until we don’t reach the peak. The time that it takes is always different for everyone – some reach their destination within a short period of time, and for some it takes a lifetime.
17. How has it been living through the lockdown period and the pandemic for you, in terms of your practice and /or producing work?
At the beginning of the lockdown, it was difficult to cope with the situation. I came back home from my trip to the far west Nepal a few days before the nationwide lockdown. The situation was much more fearful in Kathmandu, as compared to in the village. People were in a panic and I felt the panic too, while I went out for work. I kept myself busy with work and spent time with family. The Magnum Foundation Fellowship allowed me to keep myself engaged and kept me from thinking about the situation. And my newspaper work is keeping me quite busy now.
This pandemic is affecting us in so many ways. I missed the opportunity of going to New York. We are getting our payments really late from freelance jobs and some of my friends have even lost their jobs, and also lost their loved ones. Seeing all this makes me very anxious but also at the same time it gives me a chance to slow down, pause and go inward – I am utilizing this in my practice, too.
18. How would an interested collector go about buying your work?
They can get in touch with me directly.
19. If you didn’t do photography, what other career might you have pursued?
I can’t think of another profession. However, my childhood aim was to become a nurse. If I wasn’t into photography, perhaps I would have been working in the hospital as a nurse.
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Copyright © Uma Bista
20 November
