Dwarika Das Shrestha took thousands of photographs during his lifetime but never held an exhibition of his work, except for displaying them at his studio, Das Photo Store. When he died in 2004, he left behind a rich collection of images documenting the people and places of Nepal.

In these fast-changing times when urban landscapes are tranformed from week to week, the photographs suddenly have great archival and artistic value. So, Dwarika Das' grandson Kashish Das Shrestha has become the curator of his grandfather's works in an exhibition at the Nepal Art Council from this weekend.

"My grandfather would be 75, and this is a tribute to his passion, which was photography," says Kashish. Dwarika Das used Hasselblad, Linhof, and Nikon. Although he enjoyed experimenting with slides and color film, for the most part he stuck to black and white.

All the photos will be auctioned throughout the exhibition period and 25 percent of the sales will go to the ASMAN Art Fund that supports the work of talented but underprivileged art students.

A Moment in Time: 1954-2007
Nepal Art Council, Babar Mahal
11am - 5pm |18th - 22nd of August 2007

TWO MOMENTS IN TIME: Two prints from the exhibition 'A Moment in Time' show Dharara and the New Road gate in 1959. What is striking is the excellent visibility, so the Nagarjun ridgeline looks uncharacteristically close even though it seems to have much less vegetation than it does today. The reason for the clean air could have been that there were very few cars, as seen in the photograph of New Road where the statue of Bir Shamsher on horseback was still standing.
(PICS: DWARIKA DAS SHRESTHA)