Artless journey

Immediately after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, my high school revoked all of our preexisting service programs to Nepal for the safety of our students. This meant a stop in all of our fundraising events, donation baskets, and annual service trips to Gatlang, which was a small village in Nepal along the Himalayan line our school had a special partnership with.
Not only did I believe this went against the definition of service, but I had also participated in the program for two years and had friends in Gatlang, who I promised to see again, who had just lost their homes and families.

So I recruited a team of like-minded photographers and film-makers and went to Gatlang two weeks later.
This team later became Team Artless.
We couldn't not go after seeing the very buildings we were in crumbling down and the very villages we visited sinking to the ground.
Because of the earthquake, vehicles couldn't get to Gatlang and helicopters were too expensive, so for the two weeks we had, we ran up and down the school stairs to train for trekking up the Himalayan mountains to get to Gatlang.

* Our trip to Gatlang was funded and guided by the kind adults that recognized our passion and strength, namely Zeke Rho, and Sujan Ghimire in MountainChild and the Nepalese ambassador. Most of our parents were reasonably unsupportive. Mine were a little more so, since my plan was to come back just in time for my SAT.

In Gatlang, we saw sadness but more strength. This was captured through our camera lens, and was organized into Artless Exhibition. Artless Exhibition took place twice, with photographs and films from Gatlang in the theme of Overcoming and Friendship rather than Tragedy and Pity. It received national media coverage by prominent news organization for suggesting a new approach to community service. Through these exhibitions, crowd-funding, and support from leaders of various NGOs and high schools, we raised approximately $40,000.

Poster for Artless Exhibition

Exhibition Floor Plan

Exhibition Banners

In Nepal, we also realized that the people of Gatlang knew the significance of education as we saw kids ranging from 3 to 19 years old still walking to school everyday on shattered buildings. Thus, with the fund we raised, we decided to launch Brick Project: a project to rebuild the village, starting from the school, with an emphasis on self-sufficiency and education. This involved inviting retired engineers and geologists to develop a formula for cement from the local soil of Gatlang, thereby giving the villagers the power to make their own cement brick. Alternative to NGO projects that usually use cement donated from the US & European countries, Brick Project aimed to provide the resources for villagers to take ownership of the construction and architecture of their own rebuildable, earthquake-proof school.

TRAILER FOR PROJECT ARTLESS

ONE OF THE EXHIBITED SHORT FILMS IN ARTLESS EXHIBITION

We might pity them for not owning a computer
When they pity us for being owned by a computer

S T I L L S F R O M F I L M S

I formed relationships with the Nepalese ambassador, the NGO MountainChild, and the village council of Gatlang, which simplified the logistics for Brick Project and expedited the process.