In a typical bahal, houses are ringed around a courtyard. Within this open space a symbolic structure of collective resignation is often found – a temple, a chaitya and, at times, more modern fixtures, like a water tank. These houses and structures mark the shell of the community. The encounters that transpire around them make the community. For a month, Photo Kathmandu Artists-in-Residence created their own encounters with the city of Patan, and with Kathmandu as a whole. Through their creative processes they retell the stories of observations and intrigue of everyday life by exploring the mundane and presenting individual accounts of their dialogue with the collective ‘other’.

Presented at two different bahals of Patan, the exhibition is the conclusion of an endeavor to encapsulate the spirit of spaces and their stories.