Nepal’s art industry is gendered, and women artists want to change it

Sarita Dongol remembers how her mother insisted on keeping a piece of chilli in her lunchbox throughout her childhood.

“She believed that the food would be protected from any ill intent or negative soul when a chilli is placed inside,” Dongol remembers, “Any occasion when I forgot to put a chilli inside would result in a long lecture and a great deal of anxiety in me.”