Kathmandu, May 9 -- Walking into Priyanka Singh Maharjan's exhibition 'To All the Women Who Came Before Me,' I didn't expect to be confronted with so many quiet, unspoken truths about the women in my life. The exhibition, held in a modest but thoughtfully arranged space, is a tribute to the labour, love, and resilience of the women in Maharjan's family and community. Also to the women who worked in fields, wove shawls, raised children, and, in the case of her great-grandmother, taught children to read at a time when education was not a priority for girls.

The first artwork that caught my eye, 'My mother's harvest', stopped me in my tracks. There's something deeply poetic about this piece, which is an intricate blend of graphite sketches ...