The Himalayan Art Council (HAC) exists to protect, elevate, and empower the sacred art of Nepal and the artists who create it.
For centuries, Himalayan art has been revered in temples and homes, but too often overlooked or even exploited by the global market. Many of Nepal’s most important works, paubhas, thangkas, and mandalas, have been exported, copied, or sold without proper recognition of the artist, the lineage, or the spiritual significance behind the piece.
We’ve worked with artists and museologists to build the first trusted system of authorship, provenance, and cultural certification for Himalayan artists. When you join HAC, your artwork receives a digital passport, a blockchain-principle certificate that proves not just that the work is real, but that you made it, your story matters, and the rituals and cultural meaning are documented and preserved.
This isn’t a speculative NFT or technology gimmick. It’s a cultural preservation system rooted in the belief that Himalayan art is a living national treasure, and the artists are its guardians.
Your Body of Work, Preserved in Real Time
For many artists, their life’s work is scattered, sold to unknown collectors, lost in galleries, or simply undocumented. Over time, even great masters are forgotten or misunderstood because no full record of their creations exists.
Think of Vincent van Gogh, whose genius was only recognized after his death. New paintings of his still surface today, without titles, dates, or full understanding of their context. The same is true of Hilma af Klint, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many others whose work was fragmented, misattributed, or lost for decades. For Himalayan works that often go unsigned for religious reasons, this can be even a stronger concern.
As your career is built and continues, each certified piece becomes part of a living digital archive, documented in real time. This creates a cohesive, chronological record of your artistic contributions, available to scholars, collectors, and future generations. Perhaps most importantly, it is available to you, the artist.
- Art historians can study your evolution
- Students can learn from your techniques and themes
- Cultural institutions can preserve your lineage
- Religious scholars can explore the spiritual dimension of your work
Instead of being scattered or forgotten, your legacy becomes visible, respected, and permanent.
What You Get as an Artist
HAC doesn’t just help you register your work. We help you protect your story, unlock global trust, and build a legacy that lasts beyond your lifetime.
Permanent Proof of Authorship
Every certified piece carries your name, your photo, your words, and your timeline. No one can remove you from your work, not galleries, not middlemen, not exporters. You will always be credited, no matter where your art goes in the world. The authorship remains permanently linked.
Global Trust and Visibility
Buyers overseas want to collect Himalayan art, but they don’t always trust the source. Many worry that pieces are stolen, fake, or falsely labeled. HAC’s certificates give them proof they can trust, backed by cryptographic records, artist verification, and cultural context. This helps you reach serious collectors, museums, and institutions worldwide.
Each work is signed with a unique digital fingerprint that cannot be copied or reproduced. It’s a single-issue, tamper-proof record, immutable and secured using the same cryptographic technology trusted by banks to protect your financial data.
Spiritual & Ritual Provenance
In the art world, provenance is the documented historical record that proves where an artwork came from and who created it. It includes information about ownership, locations, publications, and exhibitions. For collectors and historians, provenance is what gives a piece legitimacy, protects it from forgery, and often determines its long-term value.
But in Himalayan sacred art, true provenance goes deeper. It’s not just about ownership, it’s about intention, ritual, and spiritual meaning. A thangka or paubha is often the result of months of devotion, guided by lineage, and blessed through sacred ceremonies. These invisible elements are what make the piece more than just art, they make it sacred.
HAC is the only platform that allows you to include this spiritual depth in your certificate.
- For thangka: Record dharma rituals, consecrations, and blessings.
- For paubha: Document symbolic meaning, teacher lineage, or sacred intent.
This kind of provenance makes your art more meaningful, more respected, and more valuable, especially to serious collectors, museums, and religious institutions who care about cultural integrity. It honors the full truth of the work and ensures it is never misunderstood or reduced to decoration.
Royalties on Resale
HAC believes artists should benefit from the long-term value of their work, not just the first sale. That’s why we offer an optional royalty feature for living artists.
As an artist, you have the choice to activate or disable royalties on each certified piece. If enabled, we recommend setting a royalty of no more than 10%. You can update this at any time, or eliminate it altogether.
You can also choose where the royalty goes:
To yourself, your children, a monastery, charity, school, or an art trust that supports your community or legacy.
- There is no cost to certify your artwork.
- The first buyer pays no royalty.
- Royalties only apply if your work is resold later, especially abroad, when its value increases.
This ensures that if your art changes hands over time, you or your chosen beneficiaries are recognized and rewarded, preserving not just your name, but your impact.
Enhancing your Exposure and Visibility
- By certifying your work with HAC, you’re not just protecting your art, you’re gaining international visibility. Your art can will now be accessed by scholars, collectors, museums, and cultural institutions around the world. Your work becomes part of an active cultural record and is included in art scholarship and documentation.
- In addition to this global presence, selected artists may be invited to take part in exhibitions, showcases, and special programming, both within Nepal and internationally. These events not only help elevate your work, tell your story, and connect you with new audiences who value authenticity, spiritual depth, and cultural integrity but promote all art from Nepal.
Fraud Protection
Every certificate includes high-resolution images, your verified details, and a cryptographic ledger entry. This makes your work tamper-proof and uniquely identifiable. It helps prevent:
- Fake copies or misattributions
- Resales without permission
- Buyers being misled by unauthorized dealers
Built for Artists, Not for Speculation
We do not sell NFTs or trade on public cryptocurrency platforms. HAC is built on a cryptographic ledger that works as a private social enterprise blockchain, used only for cultural protection and legal provenance. Our platform is built with the guidance of Nepali artists, cultural scholars, and technologists who care about keeping the sacred, sacred.
We also use AI tools to:
- Identify and preserve rare iconographic elements
- Translate and archive oral histories and visual
- Analyze visual lineages across artists and schools
This makes each piece part of a national cultural record, ensuring your legacy is never lost.
Why This Matters, Now More Than Ever
Nepali artists are often left out of the global art market. Why?
- Buyers are unsure what’s real
- There’s no reliable record of authorship
- Sacred art is treated as an anonymous export good
- Cultural details are lost or erased
HAC solves this by giving artists a powerful, culturally-informed certificate that builds international trust and honors local identity.
Built by artists
Over the course of 1.5 years, we developed HAC in extensive collaboration with artists, cultural experts, and technologists. Every feature, from certificate design to ritual provenance, was shaped by extensive feedback and the real-world needs of Himalayan artists. This is not just a tech solution; it’s a community-built system grounded in care, culture, and deep respect for the sacred. Even now, our artist’s advisory council meets regularly to drive new developments to further serve the cultural missions.
How Certification Works
For Living Artists
Artists currently invited into the program can certify their artwork at the time of a sale. This ensures that key details, such as price, buyer, and date, are accurately included in the certificate. In the future, we plan to support pre-sale certification, allowing artists to certify pieces before a transaction takes place.
Can Non-Invited Artists Participate?
Our vision is to make this platform accessible to all Himalayan artists. While we’re starting with a curated group, we’re actively working with cultural institutions to identify artists who are most in need of protection and recognition. This allows us to stay focused and make the greatest impact. As we scale, more artists will be welcomed into the certification system.
For Collectors: Certifying Past Works
For collectors who may have purchased your art in the past, we also offer a program to help certify previously sold works. This process helps establish authenticity, record provenance, and ensure the original artist is credited whenever possible. There is a high amount of labor to do this accurately, which represents both the interests of original artists and the collectors and so there are constraints that limit us to keep the integrity of the process strong.