National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Captivating Pictures

Susal Stebbins organizes an exhibition of the pictures she took in Nepal and Tibet

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

The soft-spoken and affable American lady has spent more than two years in Nepal working in different capacities. A social worker at Minneapolis in the USA, Susal Stebbins organized a solo exhibition of some of her best photographs, which she took in Chitawan as well as Mansarovar, Kailash in Tibet.

As Susal is about to leave Nepal, the title of the exhibition was “The Last Picture Show”. Does this mean she will not be coming back? “No, I think I will come back again to this beautiful country,” she said.

An elephant in sauraha : depiction of relity

Susal who even picked up her second name Sujal Jane Dunipace while in Nepal, said her stay here was emotionally fulfilling. “Before I went back, I wanted to share the beauty of Nepal with other people and so I decided to hold this exhibition of photographs.”

The exhibition was opened on December 7 at Lazimpat Gallery Café by Steven Brault, consul at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu. And it will continue till December 21.

Susal has put up 20 different pictures at the exhibition and they are all for sale. “The artistry in her photographs are stunning,” said Brault of her photographs.

Most of her photographs capture the mundane life in Nepal. She has chosen Chitawan this time. The pictures of boys, girls, mother and grandmother are vibrant. She is able to capture the feelings and emotions of the people in the photographs. They also depict the cultural and religious aspects of Nepali life.

Among her photos titled “Faces of Chitawan”, the one called ‘River Crossing I’ is the best. “It took me hours to get this picture in Rapti river in Sauraha,” she said. The picture shows the people of Sauraha crossing the mighty Rapti river in their large boat in a scintillating sunset landscape.

Apart from the pictures of Chitawan, Susal has also put up photographs of Kailash, Mansarovar are of Tibet, which are equally visually delightful.

While her photographs of Chitawan area mainly showed the human aspect, the ones about Tibet depicted wonders of natural beauty. The pictures of mighty mountains, rugged terrain are breath-taking indeed.

“I believe Susal has had a spiritual journey in her last more than two years of stay in Nepal. This has been a period of gestation for her and she will be going back to continue her social service in Portland,” said Brault. “The reasons (of her stay) are manifested in the works here.”

Susal also worked as the Editor at the Expatriate Community Service (ECS) magazine for the last couple of months. The ECS under her editorship had been growing and getting popular in Kathmandu.