Photojournalist Purnima Shrestha’s series of photographs—Smiling Women from Nepal—will be on exhibit at Mount Everest base camp in mid April, in what will be the first ever exhibition to be held at the gateway to the third pole. Shrestha herself will be present at the base camp to showcase her work, which constitutes of the portraits of women from all walks of life, women hailing from all geographical regions in Nepal. The exhibit is part of Shrestha’s expedition to the Mount Everest; the expedition kicks off on April 6.

Titled Summiting Everest for a Novel Cause, the expedition will also aim at raising awareness on cervical cancer, according to the organisers, Kamana Foundation Nepal; the exhibition is supported by Photojournalists’ Club of Nepal (PJ Club). The organisers hosted a brief press meet at Nepal Tourism Board in the Capital on Tuesday to disseminate information about the oncoming expedition. The event saw the presence of Bikash Karki, chair of PJ Club; Temba Tshering Sherpa, proprietor of Sherpa Khangri Outdoor, which will manage the logistics of the expedition; Deepak Raj Sapkota, chair of Karuna Foundation; among others.

Speaking at the event, Karki said that the PJ Club is “delighted to support” what will be the first ever exhibit at the base camp. “We extend out best wishes to Shrestha, we will always be with her,” Karki said.

This is the second major expedition attempted by Shrestha, following her successful scaling of Mount Manaslu in 2016. (The event also saw the screening of a short video documenting Shrestha’s previous expedition, to Mt Manaslu.) Shrestha, who is five years into the job as a photojournalist, is currently affiliated with Karobar national daily.

Speaking at the function, Shrestha shared her inspiration and the hurdles and derisions she met along the way on the run up to the project. “When I first shared my enthusiasm to scale the Everest, many people raised their brows, often coupled with derision... But then come to think of it, photo journalism in itself is quite a demanding, courageous job. And then when it comes to mountains, it’s one of the major things that makes Nepal recognised in the world, so I though why don’t I give it a try?” Shrestha said. “Then there is the cause I want to raise awareness for, cervical cancer, which is one of the most hazardours of cancers afflicting Nepali women. So I am all up for it.”