(Cross post from Stolen Gods)

Like most people, I was devastated to hear about the earthquake in Nepal, a site of particular focus for for me. I learned about the quake while on fieldwork in Mexico and, like most, felt helpless in the face of tragedy. I know that my friends in Nepal are safe. Not everyone can say that.

Sacred Art has taken centre stage in the aftermath of the earthquake, at times and unfortunately pushing human tragedy from worldwide focus. We need to think about people first, and then objects. Yet what I know is objects and I would like to offer what I have.

Find here a collection of photographs taken in Nepal recently. I am sad to say that they now can only serve as ‘before’ photos. A lot of what is pictured has been severely damaged or destroyed. These photos were taken during December of 2014 in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. A short explanation of the contents are in the file names and I’ve grouped them by general location. Please contact me at donna.yates@glasgow.ac.uk for further specifics or higher quality versions.

I am releasing them as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA which means that they cannot be used for commercial purposes and all re-release must be under the same CC license. Please credit these photos to Donna Yates. My hope is that they are of some use to those documenting this disaster or others reflecting on what has been lost…and what must be protected and rebuilt.

Please see the photos here.