My friend Jan Salter, who has died aged 82, was a talented artist and animal welfare crusader, and made her home in Nepal for more than 40 years.
Jan, an intrepid traveller in her early life, journeyed widely in Australia, the US, Asia and Africa. She first visited Nepal in 1967, and a fascination with the country and its people lured her back.
For Jan, painting was a hobby until she visited Indonesia in the 1970s and met the artist Affandi, whose influence inspired her to take up painting seriously. On her return to Nepal in 1975, she trekked around the country, making pencil sketches of the people of the diverse ethnic groups she met, fascinated by their varied cultures. She later extended her range to painting in oils.
Many of these sketches and paintings formed the basis of the book Faces of Nepal (1996), a collaboration with Harka Gurung, a Nepali scholar who produced a description of the different ethnic groups represented by Jan’s illustrations. In recognition of her contribution to raising awareness of the cultural heritage of Nepal, in 1997 King Birendra made Jan a member of the Order of Gorkha Dakshin Bahu.
Jan’s strong social conscience was a guiding force in her life. Shocked by the plight of young Nepali girls trafficked into prostitution, she worked with Maiti Nepal, a charity that rescues and rehabilitates the girls, to produce more than 50 paintings of the trafficked survivors entitled All Our Daughters, publicising their plight.
Jan was horrified by the appalling conditions for street dogs in Nepal. In 2004, she founded the Kathmandu animal treatment centre (KAT), which administers birth control and rabies injections, and takes care of injured strays. In recognition of her work for animal welfare, in 2010 she received the Extraordinary Commitment and Achievement award from Humane Society International. In 2013, she was appointed MBE for her services to animal welfare in Nepal.
Jan was born in Southampton, one of three children of Dorothy and Lawson Salter. She attended Sholing girls’ school, and even as a child loved drawing. She wanted to attend art school but her father dissuaded her, suggesting she trained as a hairdresser to provide a means of earning her living. Hairdressing did, in fact, prove a useful way for Jan to support herself during her early travels.
Jan was a vibrant, humane person with a great sense of humour and an indomitable spirit. She continued to run KAT until her death.
Jan is survived by her son, Prem Lal, a brother, Carl, three nephews and a niece.
