Underbelly of Kathmandu - In the Darkness


  • Photographer
    Larry Louie
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Larry Louie Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    Jan. 2010

The Underbelly of Kathmandu consists of the new slum areas popping all over the valley. These areas are made up mostly of people displaced from their hillside villages due to the Maoist conflict in the recent years or people from the lower caste (Dalits) who are just too poor to afford land. With minimal access to waste disposal facilities, raw sewage and solid waste are often disposed of on the banks or in the rivers by locals and municipalities. The sad thing is that these river areas are often the place where the new urban poor of Kathmandu find space to build their homes. Kathmandu being the urban center of Nepal, is also rapidly becoming the urban slum central. As we travel through Kathmandu Valley, it was not the majestic Himalayan Mountains that captured our attention, but the rapidly deterioration of the whole valley and the endurance of the people living there. These photos is part of a larger series which documents the newly slum areas that are popping up around the Valley of Kathmandu and how the urban poor in the area are enduring life under such conditions.

Story

The Underbelly of Kathmandu consists of the new slum areas popping all over the valley. These areas are made up mostly of people displaced from their hillside villages due to the Maoist conflict in the recent years or people from the lower caste (Dalits) who are just too poor to afford land.
With minimal access to waste disposal facilities, raw sewage and solid waste are often disposed of on the banks or in the rivers by locals and municipalities. The sad thing is that these river areas are often the place where the new urban poor of Kathmandu find space to build their homes.

Kathmandu being the urban center of Nepal, is also rapidly becoming the urban slum central. As we travel through Kathmandu Valley, it was not the majestic Himalayan Mountains that captured our attention, but the rapidly deterioration of the whole valley and the endurance of the people living there.
These photos is part of a larger series which documents the newly slum areas that are popping up around the Valley of Kathmandu and how the urban poor in the area are enduring life under such conditions.

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