Concept

Kathmandu

Images

  • Nepal; Kathmandu Valley, 1986. The Kathmandu Valley is situated in Nepal's Hill Region ('Pahar' in Nepali - altitutides 1000-4000 metres), and is the country's most fertile and urbanised area as well as being its political and cultural centre. The hills, sculpted into a vast complex of terraces, are extensively cultivated. Hill farmers produced food staples, mostly rice and corn, although this is still a food-deficit area. Other crops include wheat, millet, barley, sugarcane, tobacco, potatoes and oilseed. The climate is mild with summer temperatures reaching 30 degrees C and winter temperatures about 10 degrees C. The most common trees are oak, alder, jacaranda and rhododendron.
  • Nepal; tenements, old and new, Kathmandu, 1986. Builders erecting new apartments on the site of an old tenement block. Once erected, the residents of the existing four-storey tenement block will have their daylight extinguished. A woman picks her way across the building site from her home to the street.
  • Nepal; fruit seller in Kathmandu, 1986
  • Nepal; street cleaning in Kathmandu, 1986. In the mid-1980s, Kathmandu was a mix of medieval architecture and urban sprawl. Television was a late-comer to Nepal but by the 1980s, the skyline of urban areas had become peppered with television aerials. Copying western culture and values became fashionable, and drug addiction amongst the young increased significantly during the decade.
  • Nepal; street of dentists, Kathmandu 1986. In 1982, there were 17 government-trained dental surgeons in Nepal, some of whom practised in this street. For those too fearful or who could not afford to visit one of these surgeries, a nearby shrine was dedicated to Vaisha Dev, the god of toothache. Surrounding the god was a plank of wood into which thousands of nails had been driven. Planting a nail was believed to get rid of toothache by pinning down all evil spirits and influences.
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