Ladakh Lointain

This book preserves the photographic memory of three journeys to Ladakh made between 1979 and 1981. Hardly had the borders opened when Anne-Marie and Roland Gillion Crowet, with their daughter Nathalie, set off to explore this mythical country leading to the “roof of the world”. The photos selected and collected here are the work of an amateur photographer. Which is precisely what makes them into exceptional testimonies. Collector of primitive art and fascinated by non-European cultures, Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet uses these photographs to document exceptional encounters with the inhabitants of Ladakh, still attached to their centuries-old traditions.

To understand these photographs, their daughter Nathalie de Merode, who took part in the three journeys, immersed herself in the extensive documentation available on this country on the edge of the world. Culture, religion, social structure, daily life and history are combined in a way that enables readers to travel these parts themselves. With her dynamic, well-informed text, the writer opens the door for readers to understand this “Far-off Ladakh”.