Let’s face it. Kathmandu is not a very beautiful city. Save for its heritage sites and core areas, our nation’s capital does not have much to present to the outside world. It is an urban space dominated by boring concrete that lacks life and lustre. This is what Rajan Shakya, founder of the Museum of Nepali Art (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House, Thamel, thinks. Kathmandu has the potential to look good, he told The Rising Nepal, to become an eye-catching gem, his hands rose and face contorted with frustration-tinged enthusiasm. “But we have to give space to our artists,” he stressed.