When eighth-graders living in Kathmandu were asked to pick a particular period in the country’s political trajectory and align this with their personal histories, what emerged were visual reflections portraying a Nepal that holds a diverse yet collective memory of war and conflict. More than 65 years have passed in the struggle for a constitution created by an elected, representative constituent assembly, and the instability born of that struggle has affected several generations of Nepali citizens. The narratives woven by these 12- to 14-year-olds—from a range of government and private schools including Adarsha Kanya Niketan Secondary School, Patan Higher Secondary School, Lalitpur Secondary Boarding School and Kasthamandap Vidhyalaya—make clear the impact of the nuances of class, ethnicity, gender, and political understanding. They are a stark reminder of how historical discourse and truths are constructed across communities and of the need to reappraise the way history is taught in classrooms.

The featured artworks were created during a pilot program of the Nepal Picture Library’s Retelling Histories Education Program. It was conducted by Niranjan Kunwar, a writer and educator based in Kathmandu, and Sharareh Bajracharya, an arts educator and co-founder of Srijanalaya. The goal is to work with schools and teachers to make history more engaging for students, using the language, visual and performance arts as an integrative learning pedagogy.