Behind the Camera: Documenting the Living Heritage of Bhaktapur

Every morning before sunrise, the woodcarvers of Bhaktapur begin work by the same courtyard light their grandfathers used. What has changed is not the technique, but the audience — fewer apprentices, fewer buyers, and a shrinking window before these workshops close for good.

Over eight months of field visits, I sat with three families who still carve ceremonial masks and temple struts by hand. Their account is less about nostalgia than about arithmetic: apprenticeships take a decade, and city wages elsewhere take a season.

This piece is the first in a series documenting Kathmandu Valley's living craft traditions before the workshops that hold them disappear.