A COMMUNITY through the eye of the camera

Pensive Guru with his grand daughter: Thangmi men and women work in the fields, children are left with grandparents.

Duet II: Wedding Serenade: Dolakha couples not officially married until their own children are of marriageable age - Sauti — engagement ceremony for a young couple, another duet between old and new.

Thangmi Gothic: Roofing materials, status symbol. Thatched roofed houses. Aluminium — wealthier, Slate roofs — wealthiest.

Skilled carpenters — Thangmi men are skilled carpenters

Making Beer — Grain beer from corn, millet or wheat. Is a staple diet. Large quantities served on weddings, death rituals, and other occasions

Tryptich 1: Cradle for a new born baby. A ritual act only certain individuals can participate. Once the basket is completed, baby is placed in it. A small ritual for good luck.

The Head carriers at Khadga Jatra — required participation of Thangmis in the Newar festivals.

"I'm not more of a photographer, I'm an anthropologist", remarks the author of the above descriptions of some of the photographs she displayed at a recent exhibition held at the Bamboo Gallery on Thangmi culture and people.

Sara Schneiderman, a Fulbright scholar, says she based herself in Suspa when taking the photographs, an hour's walk from Dolakha, where she took the photos and in close by Sindhipulcok. A number of other villages she visited, six in total, were a further two to three days away. It took her two years to assemble it all together.

Her camera records the daily life and rituals of the Thangmi community mostly based in eastern Nepal and one of the smaller ethnic groups of Nepal. The above photo captions tell, to an extent what she, as a resident in the community managed to observe, collect and feel to the viewer. If you like, these photos offer us a kind of image of understanding of a community's way of life.

"The photos are natural — they are not posed", she says describing how she gained intimate access into the community through confidence building and, well, just being there.

"I was apprehensive," she says about the opening when eight people from the community visited the gallery along with around 150 others, "but they liked it."

Is it not inevitable to see photos of communities turning into a type of commodity when erected in a gallery for a consumerist culture. But these photographs try to make every effort to stay away from this line of thought. Is it not inevitable though, as Nepal itself grows into a consumerist culture?

But the photos serve to "enlarge our reality" making us aware of other lives beyond out own personal and familial borders. And yet there is also something inevitably sad about them too. They evoke the notion of change and time in transience, albeit that the image is a captured moment that will never change. Through the stillness the roar of flux and change can be heard, if you listen hard enough.

She is going back to America this Oct and if all goes well she's interested in displaying her photographs. It'll be more of a "cultural display than an exhibition". The villages have asked why she has to go. But she says that she'll keep visiting Nepal for longer durations. Her graduate studies call her but she will keep studying this region for the Himalayas are now in her heart.

Along with the photos, Thangmi music was played in the background— you couldn't call them all traditional for most of them are new and the lyrics of some are even composed by children. "They are very much aware of the oppression and their music talks about it. One of the pieces says — 'we are suppressed, we are supressed, these Brahmins came and took our land'.

Already she says those Thangmi students who were sponsored (ktm)— one has already passed S.L.C and is the first one to achieve that in his village and the other is in his ninth standard and is doing well. Some Americans are interested in sponsoring some of the Thangmi students and the fund collected from selling the photographs will go for their education.

As an overall assessment of things she says, "In some ways quite surprised at how thing are going. Around 150 came to the opening, people have been buying too. A number of people have commented — more pictures of men than women. But there are more men involved in rituals and festivals. I've had very good discussions with people and one development worker was even interested in this area and the students were interested in doing research work there. Something that made me happy was the amount of Nepali visitors compared to foreigners and expatriates. I felt this gallery had good accessibility because anybody can just walk in. Siddhartha and Indigo are more exclusive and expensive".

Mark Turin, a linguist working with the Thangmis, and Sara are planning to bring out a booklet on the Thangmis, around 50 pages with pictures. Sara says "It's just an idea, maybe next year and Ratna Pustak Bhandar has shown interest in publishing it."

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