Exhibiting at the Venice Biennale 2026 Collateral Event
- Zt Stha
- Feb 18
- 4 min read
In 2025, I was selected as one of the three winners of Blurring the Lines, an international photography platform that received 132 projects nominated by 32 schools across 24 countries. The selected works were recognized for their visual integrity, sensitivity, and commitment to the theme: “Memory, Freedom, and Human Rights: Images as Resistance.”
This theme invited artists to examine how memory can act as a form of resistance—especially in contexts shaped by erasure, inequality, and contested histories. It called for stories that center vulnerability, dignity, and the right to be remembered.
From this selection, my project Chhyake has been chosen for an exclusive spotlight exhibition in Venice during the 2026 Biennale period, presented by the European Cultural Centre (ECC) as part of the Personal Structures exhibition.
For the past two years, this spotlight has featured artists such as Vanessa Cowling (South Africa) and Nesie Wang (China). Being selected for this platform is both an honour and a significant milestone in my practice.
The exhibition will run from 9 May to 22 November 2026 in Venice, Italy, and the work will be included in the official exhibition catalogue.
About the Work
Chhyake is an body of work that explores how shame is inherited—through language, family, and societal expectations. What begins as a seemingly small story—about freckles, about a mother’s words—unfolds into a deeper investigation of gender, queerness, body image, and intergenerational memory. The work reflects on how identities are shaped, silenced, and corrected over time. Through intimate storytelling and visual narrative, Chhyake questions how beauty is defined, how bodies—especially those read as female—are disciplined, and how silence is passed down within families. At the same time, the work holds space for tenderness: for unlearning, for rewriting inherited narratives, and for imagining new forms of selfhood.
About the Exhibition
The eighth edition of Personal Structures, the biennial contemporary art exhibition organised by European Cultural Centre (ECC) Italy in Venice, will welcome visitors from 9 May to 22 November 2026. Running alongside La Biennale di Venezia, the exhibition will unfold across three iconic venues, Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and the Marinaressa Gardens, offering a vibrant stage for installations, paintings, sculptures, and performances.
The exhibition brings together artists from across the world and is hosted across historic Venetian venues during the Biennale period, attracting an international audience of curators, collectors, and institutions.
Why This Matters
I am a visual artist from Nepal, and opportunities like this are rare. While a few Nepali visual artists have participated in the Venice Biennale ecosystem, photographers from Nepal remain largely absent from this global stage. My work speaks from a deeply personal place, but it engages with global conversations around gender, identity, language, and belonging. It creates space for stories that are often silenced, yet widely felt.
Support & Collaboration
Estimated budget: £5,000 – £6,000, which covers:
• International travel (Nepal – Venice)
• Accommodation for 2 weeks
• Visa and insurance
• Food & Local transport
This amount does not need to come from a single source—any form of support, big or small, would mean a lot in helping me be present for my own exhibition.
What Supporters Receive
• Logo placement on my website
• Mentions across social media features
• Acknowledgement in talks and presentations
• Signed photo print from the work
I am also open to building long-term creative collaborations.
About the Artist
Jyoti Shrestha is a photographer from Nepal whose work moves between documentary and experimental practices. She explores gender, language, identity, and collective memory, interrogating inherited traditions, cultural silences, and erasures.
Through her lens, she traces the forces shaping bodies, desire, and belonging—reclaiming lost voices and revealing the interplay between personal histories and broader social, cultural, and environmental structures.
Fellowships & Achievements
• 2018 – Introduction to Storytelling, PhotoCircle
• 2020 – US Embassy Artist Grant, Weaving Emotions
• 2022 – British Council Grant, Queer: In Our Own Words
• 2022 – Jury’s Choice, Prix Virginia
• 2022 – 360 Impact Awards (Media 9 & Business 360)
• 2023–25 – Nepal Ambassador, 24 Hour Project
• 2024 – Resting Academy International Residency (Pathshala Institute)
• 2025 – PhotoCircle Fellowship, PhotoKTM
• 2026 – Angkor Photo Workshop, Cambodia
• 2026 – Fresh Eyes Talent, GUP Magazine
Selected Exhibitions
• 2017 – Feminine Side of a Boy, Kaalo 101
• 2018 – PhotoCircle Screening
• 2018 – Women on the Wall, Micro Galleries Festival
• 2019 – Nepal Communitere Group Show
• 2020 – Virtual Group Exhibition (Kaalo 101)
• 2021 – Self Portrait, Public Exhibition
• 2022 – Queer: In Our Own Words, British Council
• 2023–25 – 24 Hour Project (Hong Kong, Finland, Germany)
• 2025 – Phosphenes, Drik Gallery, Dhaka
• 2025 – Synthetic Flow, Kathmandu
• 2025 – South Asian Playground, New Delhi
• 2025 – PhotoKTM Fellowship Exhibition
• 2026 – Angkor Photo Workshop Screening
• 2026 – Venice Biennale (ECC Collateral Event)
• 2026 – Hungry Eye Fair, Rotterdam
A Personal Note
In 2024, I left my full-time role as an Arts Programme Coordinator at the British Council to pursue photography full-time. This opportunity feels like a turning point—an affirmation of the work I have been building over the years. However, while the platform exists, the resources to access it do not.
I am seeking support not just to exhibit—but to be present, to engage, and to represent where I come from.
Contact
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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