Hamra Hajurama: Our Grandmothers

Hamra Hajurama: Our Grandmothers is a story-telling project using the primary mediums of photography and text. The project involves inspired storytellers going beyond the headlines to diverse parts of Nepal, and spending time with grandmothers with stories to tell. The project is initiated by photo.circle, a platform for emerging and professional photographers based in Kathmandu.

Hamra Hajurama: Our Grandmothers kicked off in May 2009 with seven photographers and six writers including, Dhruba Ale, Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka, NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, Prateek Rajbhandari, Rocky Prajapati, Sudhir Bhandary, Sushan Prajapati, Abha Eli Phoboo, Ajit Baral, Arpan Shrestha, Diwas KC, Prawin Adhikari, Rabi Thapa, Sushma Joshi and Utsav Shakya. Over the next few months, these writers and photographers fanned out across the country to work on their stories, encountering a fascinating range of women with much to tell, and not just tales of sorrow and injustice.

The book features 12 grandmothers from 11 districts with 68 photographs and a preface by independent photographer and writer Satish Sharma. Hamra Hajurama: Our Grandmothers constitutes a form of cultural journalism that encompasses the individual and collective histories and cultural practices of the Nepali people, and gives us a very real sense of how interlinked these histories are across the spectrum of ethnicity, class, culture and geography. This sense of history, of unity, will be crucial in the days to come for the future of Nepal.

CONTRIBUTORS
Abha Eli Phoboo, Ajit Baral, Dhurba Ale, Diwas Raja KC, Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka, NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, Rabi Thapa, Rocky Prajapati, Prateek Rajbhandari, Prawin Adhikari, Sudhir Bhandari, Sushan Prajapati, Utsav Shakya.

CREDITS
Project coordinator: NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati
Book designer: Bhushan Shilpakar
Copy editor: Rabi Thapa
Cover photo: Prateek Rajbhandari
Printed at Jagadamba Press, Lalitpur