Kathmandu is a very grey, dusty city….especially in the dry season. The problem is compounded by the construction, road works, road creation, road resurfacing and general garbage and mess everywhere. It really is fifty shades of grey (or beige). If something wasn’t grey when it started ….like a bush or a blue car, for example….it soon will be…just give it a few weeks.

But as I glance out from my car window, I do see colour in a few places: the people (especially women with their brightly coloured clothes), omnipresent Coca-Cola corporate red splashed on at least half the small stores and then there’s the murals.

There are a surprising amount of murals all over Kathmandu. And although I can guess at reason why this makes sense, it still always a pleasant surprise when one just shows up on a crumbling wall or hidden away in a corner somewhere. For all its disorder, the city doesn’t have much in the way of ugly graffiti really. But you do see big, bold artistic graffiti, as well as what I’m guessing are carefully crafted, professionally painted political slogans.

Nepali schools are often cheerfully painted bright colours by amateurs to cheer up their grey concrete shells with rudimentary cartoon characters and rainbows.  Advertisers paint whole sides of buildings with giant commercials for cigarettes, coke, or beer.   But then there’s the dazzling display of professionally painted, fantastically creative, murals by real street artists.  Those murals are the real prizes and I am still collecting them as I hunt the city for the next, amazing one.  As I write this post, I’ve researched the concept a little and it turns out there’s a whole informal world of mapped Kathmandu murals….a trail to follow!

Here are some tasters for now….but I’ve a feeling a may return to this subject.  Stay tuned!

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art