Images of Nepal

Photographer Jackie Hopfinger has exhibited her work widely, including in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She lives in north London. Jackie's photographs capture moments and tell stories about places all over the world. We featured some of her work in earlier postings. This latest series is from a trip made to Nepal in December 2023.

You can find more of Jackie's work at www.jackiehopfinger.co.uk

Pashupatinath Temple – a Hindu temple located in Kathmandu on the Bagmati River.  The current temple was constructed in 1692 and is the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu and is a World Heritage site. Numerous Hindu cremations take place each day generally just hours after death; Hindu belief is reincarnation.

Shops around Boudhanath Stupor, Kathmandu.

View of the Himalayas from Bindhyabasini temple in Pokhara.

A tree by Fewa Lake, Pokhara full of birds (left). Fishing nets on Fewa Lake (right).

A typical local shop near the temple.

The stairway down to Gupteshwor Cave.

Carrying crops on the hillside at Sarangkot.

Early morning misty sunrise in Chitwan, the jungle area of Nepal. We watched the elephants crossing the small river near our hotel and then walked a while with them. These were rescued elephants, rescued from years of transporting tourists on their backs. It is now widely recognised that riding elephants is unethical and exploitative though it still is common.

An elephant throwing dusty mud onto it’s back. They do this to get rid of flies, protect themselves from the sun and help regulate body temperature. 

Monkeys in the jungle in Chitwan National Park.

Local village life in Chitwan National Park.

Update on Rachel Jacobs’ Future Machine

Rachel Jacobs, a contributing editor to Emerging Voices, first wrote about Future Machine in March, 2020. She has contributed ongoing updates on her work as an artist, thinker, climate activist, and academic. You can read other posts at

Conversations on Crises

This latest update provides insight into where Rachel is now, mirroring both her optimism and her challenges in being part of the urgent conversation around climate change.

2023 has been an inspiring yet difficult year as I accompany Future Machine on its uphill climb into the future. The climate modelling at the heart of this project appears to have been proven right, even understated. The tipping points and uncertainties of climate change are happening sooner than expected. Now the sea ice in the polar regions is melting faster, and the Arctic and Antarctic are warming up more quickly. At times, the rise is 35 degrees above their average temperatures.

Meanwhile, in England 2023, we had both a heatwave and a drought in June. Then we were on the cooler side of the increasingly confused Gulf stream. In September, a heatwave returned. My mum recently found a diary entry from the 1970s, noting that 21 degrees was too hot to walk up mountains. Over the last few years, I have become used to walking in the mountains in 25 – 28 degree heat.

The world suffers fires, floods, unbearable heat, earthquakes. Despite all that is happening, Future Machine is having a quiet year. Funding and partnerships are increasingly hard to secure. Cuts to public funding indicate major changes in the way art and research is valued in England--very little. With all this in the background, Future Machine has continued its journey across England.

In February, a small cardboard Future Machine maquette went for a walk with my collaborators Juliet Robson and Glenn Bryant along the lanes of Rotherfield Peppard village as Winter turned to Spring, meeting villagers and a donkey along the way.

In April, the Nottingham local council did a brutal clearance of the shrubs and flowers that were our friends in Nottingham’s Christ Church Gardens, where we had worked with the local primary school after lockdown in 2020. Then ‘something amazing happened’. We met under the blossom trees, with a visit from Mr X, an artist from London who has been collaborating with Frank Abbott, my collaborator in Nottingham.

Mr X's amazing artwork on wheels appeared under the blossoming trees, the first time he and his work had been out of London. Alongside Future Machine and Mr X's appearance, Frank lit up the year 2023, beacons cut out of huge cardboard boxes. We ate samosas and drank tea and coffee as people spoke to the future via Future Machine and listened to messages from its past as we walked through the park.

On Saturday, November 11, Future Machine will celebrate the season in north London's Finsbury Park. All are welcome. For more information and to learn more about Rachel and her Future Machine, go here.

Don't forget to share this with your networks. Click the buttons below! Come to Finsbury Park on November 11!

Scenes from Turkey: Photography by Jackie Hopfinger

Jackie Hopfinger is an Islington based photographer. One of her photographs is currently showing in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. In March 2023 she recorded these striking images of Istanbul. See more of her work at www.jackiehopfinger.co.uk and follow her on Instagram @jackiehop. You can also see some of Jackie's dance photography in the Emerging Voices Features Archive.

Near the Yeni Cami Mosque

Close to the Galata Bridge.

Outside the Yeni Cami Mosque, men wash before entering to pray.

The Yeni Cami Mosque (means New Mosque) with its 66 domes is not really so new. Building began in 1597. Due to fire, it fell into disrepair and neglect until finally being completed in the 1660’s.

Side view of the Yeni Cami Mosque

Back of Aya Sofia Mosque, also known as the Hagia Sofia. Built in 532, it was originally an Orthodox Christian church. It became a mosque in the 1450’s. In 1934, Ataturk turned it into a museum. In 2020, rather controversially, Erdogan made it a mosque again.

Cistern Basilica, the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie under Istanbul. It was built in the 6th century, a huge place with 336 columns supporting the ceiling. Today it has very little water and is largely a tourist attraction.