A People War - Photo Exhibition - Beni

Citizens of Beni came to see the photograph exhibition, ‘A People War’ and said they were reminded of the night-long battle of 20th March 2004 in which hundreds of people were killed. More than 15,000 people thronged to the two-day exhibition, which was held in the DDC Hall that was itself heavily damaged during the attack and has since been rebuilt. 

“It all came back to me when I saw the photograph of a shopkeeper washing the blood from the steps of her shop,” said Beni teacher, Binaya Shrestha. He added: “The exhibition showed that it didn’t just happen to us, the war affected the whole country.”

 That photograph was taken by Thomas Bell two days after the attack, and the woman in it is Jamila Begum and her daughter, Shajida, who was four then. Both came to look at their picture at the exhibition and recalled the horror of that night.

 “We hid all night, and couldn’t come out the next day because there was still shooting,” Jamila recalled, “it was only on the third day that I could wash the blood from the front of my shop and I remember this foreigner taking pictures of us.”

 ‘A People War’ is an exhibition based on the picture book of the same name that was envisioned by Kunda Dixit. It is touring Nepal and will now travel on to Besisahar and Gorkha before winding up in Kathmandu on 1 March. Nearly 310,000 people have already watched the exhibition in 29 venues around the country.