young hands/old chains: A Generational coup

Kathmandu, Nepal — September 2025

In September 2025, thousands of young Nepalis took to the streets demanding the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli after he dissolved parliament and assumed near-total executive power. What began as student-led protests escalated into a nationwide uprising—tear gas in the capital, police stations overrun, a generation refusing to inherit the political cynicism of their parents.

I was in Kathmandu for two days during the height of it. Not enough time to understand everything. Enough time to witness something I won't forget: journalists carrying injured police officers to safety. Protesters sharing water with the same riot squads who'd been firing on them hours earlier. A country tearing itself apart and holding itself together simultaneously.

These images don't explain Nepal's political crisis. They document something harder to articulate—the strange grace that emerges when ordinary people decide they've had enough. The moment when the line between documenter and participant dissolves.

Exhibited at Kathmandu Photo Festival 2025, as part of ‘GEN Z POWER’—a collaborative showcase of 28 photographers curated by Nepal Point.