Nepal Picture Library; Students writing their exams in the school’s playground in Chiti Tilahar, Lamjung, 35 mm film, 1975

For Kathmandu-born, Mumbai-raised visual artist Karan Shrestha, visiting his grandmother in Nepal during summer was part of his growing up years. But in 2006, when he visited her after completing his studies, Nepal was a nation in turmoil. The decade-long people's war had just ended, and the country had shed its identity as a monarchy to become a federal republic. "It felt like light had finally begun to fall on a place that had been shadowed for two centuries. Nepal felt different and bigger," says Shrestha, who then decided to divide his time between the two cities to explore and understand Nepal better.