Portraits of Ladakh
Photographer Isaac Tsetan Gergan moves away from the stereotypes of portraying Ladakh and captures different views of the landscape
For 29-year-old Isaac Tsetan Gergan, capturing landscapes is his narration of stories which describe the habitat, people, nature, and everything else about a place.
In his exhibition titled “After the Elusive Light: Photographing Ladakh”, Isaac has tried to capture the unseen Ladakh through a collection of around 50 photographs.
“Most of these photographs are products of coincidences. They sum up my experiences of flying to Leh, travelling to different parts of Ladakh on horseback, or simply on a long drive. Everything accumulated over time and I had just one idea in my mind: creating a comprehensive story of Ladakh,” explains Isaac.
While talking about one of the photographs that was captured seven years ago, Isaac says that he wanted to get away from the stereotypes of portraying Ladakh.
“I wanted to capture different views of the landscape; the different seasons in portraits that could inject life in those seasons. Getting away from the monasteries and mountainscapes that people usually capture, I wanted to show a Ladakh which is never seen.”
As someone who was born and brought up in Ladakh, Isaac feels that the place has seen a lot of changes in the past few years.
“Undoubtedly, tourism has generated a lot of revenue for Ladakh. But it has also polluted the region enormously. Every now and then, there are new ideas that are implemented for the place’s development, but those ideas don’t resonate with the innate traditions, history and culture of Ladakh. These are some concerns which have to be considered,” says Isaac.
However, in his journey of capturing these pictures, Isaac says that getting different perspectives from all kinds of people — including children, adults, architects and tourists — was the most rewarding aspect of it all. “I have got a lot of suggestions from artists and photographers. And with the help of that feedback, I got a little better at storytelling. Now, I am going to use that for my next exhibition, which is a continuation of different stories from Ladakh,” he signs off.
The exhibition is on display at Art Gallery, India International
Centre Annexe, Lodi Estate