KATHMANDU: Violence, suffering and poverty are few things you often hear when anyone talks about Afghanistan. But this South Asian nation is more than that — Afghanistan’s spectacular beauty stuns anyone who visits this country. And four Nepali artists, who recently visited Afghanistan — the SAARC Culture Capital for 2015, have been able to capture that beauty on their canvases. Their works are on display in the group painting exhibition ‘Memory of Afghanistan’ that started on January 4 at Nepal Art Council, Babarmahal. The exhibition brings forth works of artists Sushma Rajbhandari, Bhim Prasad Sharma, Aruna Hingmang and BK Nar Bahadur. They have painted beautiful and realistic landscapes, people, Buddha and lifestyle of Bamyan, Afghanistan. The aforementioned artists represented Nepal in nearly a week-long SAARC Artist Camp 2015, held in Bamyan, Afghanistan from August 16 to 21, 2015. Organised by SAARC Cultural Centre, the Camp aimed to create an atmosphere of interaction and friendship among the artists from SAARC region through the medium of art for cultural connectivity and cultural exchange. The experiences of Nepali artists during this period can been seen in the paintings. For instance, Rajbhandari has painted spectacular night scene of Bandamir in one of her works titled ‘Night Scene of Bandamir’. It is a dusk scene — using red, orange, brown, and green hues, she has painted a beautiful lake surrounded by hills in Bandamir, Bamyan. BK’s painting ‘Camel’ has also captured the dusk. Here, he has painted silhouettes of men riding camels. At the backdrop, a huge sun is setting in the fiery red and orange coloured sky. Meanwhile, Hingmang has portrayed the serenity of a lake surrounded by hills during the day time using blue, white, brown, yellow, black, and green colours in her painting ‘Band E Amir, Afghanistan’. Two women are picking the grass growing on the edge of the lake in Bamyan's Band E Amir. “Band E Amir is famous for its natural beauty and it touched my heart,” shared Hingmang adding, “Though the Bamyan Buddhas — the identity of Afghanistan — were blasted by Taliban in 2001, the place is still beautiful.” It was one of the reasons she chose to paint Band E Amir on her canvas. Also she found Band E Amir similar to Nepal, another motivation for her work. “I felt the place is similar to Mustang of Nepal. Band E Amir has less vegetation and this area is like desert — like our Mustang. Yet the limited water resources around the Valley gives hope, like the feeling we get after seeing flower growing on cactus in desert.” And Buddha too has got space in these artists’ works. For instance, in the painting ‘Buddha will Come Again’, Sharma has painted a young monk resting on the foot of Bamyan Buddha. In the shades of orange, yellow, black and white, he has painted the monk along with a huge statue of Buddha carved on a cliff. And a white flower has been painted next to the young monk. If you wish to experience Afghanistan here in Kathmandu then visit the exhibition that is on till January 10.