Nepal is still picking up the pieces from the devastation caused by last month's 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the country's worst in more than 80 years, killing more than 8,000 people and injuring more than 17,000. A new 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck the country on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people in the Himalayan country and neighbouring states.
While international aid is flowing into the disaster zone, two art exhibitions here are also doing their part to raise awareness and funds.
The first show is When The Mountains Called, running till tomorrow at Ion Orchard's Basement 4. Put on by a group of photographers who visited Kathmandu within the last three years , the exhibition comprises 28 photo stories, depicting aspects of Nepalese traditional culture, such as its religious shamans, as well as the people's daily lives.
For $500, each panel is available for adoption, where the name of the adopter will be printed under each panel until the end of the show.
After that, if the adopters want to keep the photos, they can, or they will be returned to the photographers.
In addition, 2,800 postcards of exhibited pictures are being sold at $5 each.
All proceeds will go to Nepalese non-governmental organisations such as Prisoners Assistance Nepal, Wildlife Conservation Nepal and Non-Resident Nepali Association for the humanitarian effort now underway in Nepal.
Already, 24 of the 28 stories have been adopted by corporations and individuals, with $12,000 having been raised so far.
The exhibition is organised by Edwin Koo, 36, a former Straits Times photojournalist who spent two years living and working in Nepal. He won the Icon de Martell Cordon Bleu photography prize in 2012.
Now based in Singapore, he runs eight-day photography masterclasses in Kathmandu for interested photographers and enthusiasts from all over the world.
The pictures from the last three batches of students are shown in When The Mountains Called.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is Sk8er Gal by photographer Pandora Wong, 25, a story which chronicles how Anshu Mahat, 21, a Nepali civil servant, overcame prejudices to become Kathmandu's first and only female skateboarder.
The second fund-raising exhibition is Help Nepal Through Art, held at the one-year-old Mandala Fine Art Gallery in Kallang Avenue. Ten international artists, six of them Nepalese, showcase paintings whose styles range from abstract to realistic.
Eighty to 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to a special Mandala Charity Project fund in Nepal.
The gallery is hoping to raise at least $10,000 with the paintings, and to sell all of its 300 postcards at $10 each.
One of the artists featured in the exhibition is emerging artist Cai Ying Ying, 24, whose three works feature the Himalayan mountains in Nepal.
She says that she chose to paint with a palette knife rather than ordinary brushes, following a technique popular with many Nepalese artists. She adds: "I hope that this exhibition will be able to make a difference to the people there in need of help."
