WINNERS

Thiksey

  • Photographer
    Shivam Vij, United Kingdom
  • Prize
    Bronze Winner in Human/Culture

Stood above the Indus Valley for 600 years, one of the largest Gelug institutions in Ladakh. Its rhythm, prayer, chores, silence, repeat, has changed little. The population of monks has not. Modernisation has pulled young Ladakhis toward Leh, and sending a family's youngest son here is no longer law. I expected to hear about faith. Mostly I heard about stability. Younger monks did not describe the outside world as resistance, more as something harder. Not more complicated, just different. This series follows a life someone is still choosing, for reasons more practical than they look.