A photography festival held in Lalitpur, Nepal, Photo Kathmandu hosts exhibitions, workshops and lectures, notably using the city’s public spaces. It was founded in 2015 by Nepali photography platform photo.circle, and has generally been held biennially. The festival’s programming also includes a month-long artist residency, an incubator program for South Asian photo practitioners, pop-up events, review sessions, and an arts education program for young people in Lalitpur. 

Each edition of Photo Kathmandu — also known as PhotoKTM — is curated around a broad theme, usually related or responding to national and global current affairs. Exhibitions at Photo Kathmandu feature the works of South Asian and international photographers. The festival also confers an Award of Excellence; past recipients include Nepali sports photojournalist Shyam Chitrakar, Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, and Nepali photographer Shridhar Manandhar.  

Major exhibitions at Photo Kathmandu often feature work from the archives of Nepal Picture Library (NPL), another major initiative of photo.circle. The first edition featured two such exhibitions: Facing the Camera: A History of Nepali Studio Photography, which traced the development of a culture around photography in the country over the course of a century; and Juju Bhai Dhakhwa: Keeper of Memories, which presented Dhakhwa’s photographs of residents of Nagbalan in Lalitpur in the 1960s and 1970s. Subsequent editions featured major NPL exhibitions including Dalit: A Quest for Dignity, The Public Life of Women (2018), and NPL’s Kathmandu Valley Urban History Project (2020).

Engagement with public space is a key aspect of Photo Kathmandu’s programming. The festival’s first edition was held in the aftermath of the disastrous 2015 earthquake in the region, and sought to contribute to rebuilding Lalitpur’s public spaces. Fundraisers were held to support the restoration of public rest stops (pati) and a public water fountain (dhunge dhara). The city’s historic bahas —  large public-access courtyards between homes, used for gatherings and sometimes worship — housed an exhibition of works by artists-in-residence at the third edition of the festival. While public exhibitions are a key feature of Photo Kathmandu, they have also created challenges for the organisers in instances where residents have objected to the contents of the display. On some occasions, festival organisers have worked closely with community organisations to generate support for and interest in the exhibitions.

Other than exhibitions, various initiatives to support young people and develop their interest or work in the arts form a large part of Photo Kathmandu’s programming. The third edition of the festival introduced the South Asia Incubator program, with the objective of supporting the work of early-career photo practitioners and connecting them with curators, editors, publishers, mentors, and other supportive individuals or institutions. The festival also works with local educators to introduce schoolchildren to photography through workshops and guided engagement with exhibitions.