When Nepal underwent an armed insurrection for a decade, all aspects of life, from economy to health and education, were severely affected.

But while efforts are underway at the end of the civil war to rebuild the damaged sectors, there's one segment that is yet to see a full-fledged government initiative for resurrection: art.

Now, one woman is fighting an uphill battle to promote Nepal's hidden art and artists.

Sangeeta Thapa, among the handful of women curators in Nepal, whose Siddartha Art Gallery has been promoting Nepali artists as well as showcasing foreign artists' work in the Himalayan nation, is organizing Nepal's first international art festival that kicks off on Oct. 30.

The first of its kind, it is putting up more than 100 works by artists from more than 27 countries and regions.

"I had been dreaming of this exhibition for two years," says Thapa, the daughter of a UN diplomat who studied art in Britain but returned to Nepal to do something else because she thought whatever she wanted to paint had already been painted.

"This is the right time to hold it in Nepal because a large number of the legislators in our 601-member parliament are women. At no time have women been so politically aware in Nepal and been represented in the house in such a large number."

The five-day art festival, to be held simultaneously in three venues along with symposiums, video shows and interactive installations, has a theme: Separating the Myth from Reality- Status of Women".

"Although I live in a society that still reveres female deities the bitter reality is that the status of women in Nepal is a complete contradiction," Thapa told Xinhua in Kathmandu. "As a woman and as a curator from the subcontinent, I feel that the plight of women, their vulnerability, their exploitation and their invisibility in the eyes of the government and society are important issues that need to be publicized and challenged."

The 48-year-old feels that visual arts can play an important role in presenting such issues to a broader base of people.

There are several moving contributions by artists from abroad. Jordanian painter Juman Al Nimri's work is about honor killing while the artists from Bangladesh have depicted the various faces of violence against women.

The art festival will be held in the Nepal Art Council Gallery, the Siddhartha Art Gallery and the Kathmandu Arts Center.

A host of organizations have come forward to make it happen. They range from the Prince Claus Foundation in the Netherlands to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Kathmandu to the Alliance Francaise.

Its working partners are the Britto Trust, Bangladesh, Habiart Foundation, India, College of Visual Arts, Beacon House, Pakistan, Theertha Artists Collective, Sri Lanka, Open Workshop for Culture and Arts, Palestine, Galerie Ramakers, Holland, Kathmandu University Centre of Fine Arts and Crafts, and the National Forum of Photo Journalists.

An anxious Thapa says the art festival will test the waters to see if Nepal is ready to join the international art scene.

"If it draws an encouraging response, I am planning another one in 2011. And then, who knows, Kathmandu may have its own biennial, like the Berlin Biennial."