Images of Zanskar

Abstract

The ancient kingdom of Zanskar (now in Ladakh), which lay west of Mount Kailash and south of the Indus River, once belonged to Western Tibet. The valley, closed to foreigners until 1973, is one of the rare places in the world where the inner law of life and the physical laws of nature are still the only authorities.

In August 2009, in the small town of Padum, thousands of pilgrims descended from every corner of the mountains. Sheltered by storms of sand, Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, had come to speak about the power of consciousness and the infinite ways of entering into the path of happiness.

These photographs trace the subtle dance of inner balance and movement between man and his land, in attempts to further define the vast spectrum of human existence, thereby illuminating alternative ways to persevere and to be.