ABSTRACT

The following article is based on interviews and visual analysis of a collection of comics illustrated by Nepali women artists Bandana Tulachan, Kanchan Burathoki, Kripa Joshi, Preena Shrestha, Shraddha Shrestha and Sangee Shrestha, as well as my own work. These artists have been selected in terms of their visibility and prominence in the comics scene in Nepal. These artists have produced comics with personal narratives of their everyday life, thoughts and emotions. I address the questions if, through comics, individual visual accounts of the everyday experience can be understood as an act of feminism, and whether Nepali comics are a tool for encouraging feminist beliefs in Nepal. The article will give a brief introduction to Nepal’s feminist movement and assess whether or not the comics, that have been studied, can be characterised as part of Nepali feminism. For the purpose of this paper, I have categorised my visual inquiry under the areas of satire as counter culture, body image, self expression and sexuality, real life, real issues, metaphors and the comical side of life.