Background
Kevin Bubriski
Swayambhunath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal
Photo print
16 x 16 inches
Digitally reproduced photograph
“I believe in the power of documentary photography to create bridges of understanding between people and places.”
Honoring the resilience of the Nepalese people in the face of unprecedented challenges. Kevin Bubriski has lived and travelled extensively throughout Nepal since he first arrived there as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1975. He lived in three of the districts devastated by the quakes of 2015. Deeply saddened and dismayed, he continued to document life after the devastating 7.8 magnitude quake.
This image was taken on top of the Swayambhunath Hill that overlooks the Kathmandu Valley; it’s ancient stupa/temple is emblematic of the capital city. In the foreground members of the Nepalese Army assisted with the demolition of unsafe homes and shops nearby. The temple was miraculously spared major damage.
Again, Nepal is faced with unprecedented challenges and hardships in the wake of Covid. The Buddha’s eyes in the stupa’s harmika stand unshaken by the quake’s devastation in the foreground. In many ways, the photo serves as a metaphor for resilience in the face of disaster.
Kevin Bubriski has exhibited worldwide; his work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the International Center of Photography, all in New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Asian Cultural Council, Bubriski worked for nine years in Nepal, and has photographed his journeys to India, Tibet, and Bangladesh. Author of Portrait of Nepal (Chronicle), which won the Golden Light Documentary Award in 1993, and Power Places of Kathmandu: Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites in the Sacred Valley of Nepal (Inner Traditions), Bubriski lives in Vermont with his wife.
