LADAKH GEB - Tapa dura

In this gorgeous visual tapestry, a gifted photographer shares his spiritual journey through a landscape at once unforgiving and nurturing. Nestled among the world's highest mountains lies Ladakh, a remote region of Northern India known for its rugged beauty. For more than a decade, Prabir Purkayastha has made pilgrimages to this bastion of Tibetan culture, bringing back with him the photographs that comprise this book. Gold-tinted panoramic vistas of snow-blanketed fields seem to glow from within, while prayer flags fluttering against a cerulean sky appear to leap off the page. Portraits of wizened faces alternate with centuries-old statues. Ladakh is more than a feast for the eyes, as Purkayastha's text also feeds the soul, narrating his work with searching prose. "There's a place I have found where mortal words have no meaning," writes Purkayastha, "and every awakening is the beginning of another dream." As provocative as it is meditative, "Ladakh" is a unique journey that deepens with the turning of each page. Prabir Purkayastha's work has been exhibited internationally, and in 2002 he was awarded the Habitat Award for Best Photography Exhibition.