Portrait of Nepal is a series of formal black and white portraits created in collaboration with the residents of a rural Himalayan village, photographed over a number of years. As a Canadian volunteer working with a small grassroots NGO supporting community-led development projects in the region, I lived and worked alongside the people I photographed. The relationships I built during that time shaped the tone and direction of the work.

Each portrait was made with the subject’s full participation and consent. These are not candid or journalistic images, but intentional encounters—often composed together, with the subject choosing where and how they wished to be seen. Most were made using medium and large format film cameras, with a deliberate, unhurried process that allowed for presence and collaboration. The resulting prints were hand-processed and printed by me in a traditional darkroom.

As an outsider working in a culturally distinct and economically vulnerable community, I approached this project with care and humility. My intent was not to document poverty or dramatize difference, but to create space for dignity, self-possession, and shared authorship. The camera became a bridge—a way to slow down, to connect, and to witness each other with mutual respect.

I returned to the village on multiple occasions, not only to continue the work, but to deliver finished prints to the individuals and families I had photographed. Some now hang in homes there, completing a circle of giving and receiving that continues to shape how I think about photography and representation.

I hope Portrait of Nepal invites viewers to pause and look closely—not only at the surface of each face, but into the quiet depth of human connection across cultural boundaries and shared time.