PhotoKTM, Nepal’s pioneering international photography festival, has announced its 6th edition, marking ten years of fearless, uncensored visual storytelling.
The festival continues to provide a vital platform for hundreds of photographers and visual artists to explore the political lives of images and examine their role in shaping both our histories and our futures.
The program will take place from November 14 to December 14, 2025 across Kathmandu Valley, featuring 18 exhibitions, slideshow projections, workshops, artist talks, panel discussions, portfolio reviews, and film screenings.
Nepal Art Council, Kathmandu will serve as the anchor venue for the festival throughout the month, while the festival will also travel to Mangahiti & Chyasal in Patan; Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur; Nandi Keshar Bagaincha in Naxal; and Nigu Pukhu in Madhyapur Thimi.
This year’s edition will present a dynamic program shaped around the curatorial theme of Global South solidarities.
PhotoKTM highlights histories of resistance and solidarity from the Third World project, showing how they have shaped contemporary processes to reclaim sovereignty in regions battered by centuries of colonialism, exploitation, and violence.
“We hope this year’s coming together will deepen cultural understanding among artists and cultural communities across the Third World, strengthen reciprocal transnational solidarities through the sharing of our histories, stories, struggles and hopes, and open up pathways for more south-south collaborations and exchange across geographies.” said NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, the co-founder and festival director.
“PhotoKTM6 turns to the spirit of Global South Solidarity and Third World internationalism. From anti-colonial struggles to the Bandung Conference, to the non-alignment movement and revolutionary cultural exchanges, these histories continue to shape how countries like Nepal imagine their place in the world. Today as global powers test our moral fiber and our sovereign will, we hope to direct our creative energies toward renewing the spirit of solidarity, imagination, and collective future,” said Diwas Raja Kc who is part of the festival’s curatorial team.
This year PhotoKTM is working closely with Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh, as the invited interlocutor, to shape the intentions and programs of this edition of the festival.
“I think it is particularly relevant that these spaces are created and maintained because it is only if people meet and continue to do this important work, in which they think collectively, they work collectively, and they hold up certain values, that they will be capable of contributing to what I would call a ‘free world’.” said Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh.
This year, the festival spotlights the work and curatorial voices of artists from the Global South, featuring over 40 artists from Santiago to Lubumbashi and Quito to Dakar, alongside Nepali photographers and filmmakers. PhotoKTM is proud to present eight Nepali artists from the 2025 cohort of the photo.circle fellowship program, whose works explore the questions, challenges, and contradictions surrounding the notions of ‘development' and 'progress' in contemporary Nepal.
