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The protagonists of these photos are little girls from a village in Suru Valley, Kargil, Ladakh, India. This region is remote from the rest of India geographically, and culturally, with a largely Shia Muslim population.

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In the national imagination, Kargil exists only as a site of war that took place between India and Pakistan in 1999. News reports and cinema around Kargil, add to the narrative of it existing largely as a warscape. 

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Life here is crucially linked to the land and seasons, and the relationship of the girls with the land is sensorial — they collect flowers, climb rocks, and mountains, jump into streams, among other explorations, old and new. 

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As women they will perform the bulk of the labour — managing the household and children, taking care of their fields, cattle, and storing for the long, harsh winter. 

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I wanted to frame the fragility of girlhood against this fragile landscape.

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