In the high-altitude Changthang plateau of Ladakh (~5000 meters), the Changpa nomads have lived with the land for generations. Their way of life is based on movement, following old migration routes and moving between pastures with the seasons. But that rhythm is becoming increasingly uncertain.

The climate is changing the land they depend on. Winters are less predictable, snowfall patterns are becoming more erratic, water is becoming less certain, and the pastures are under increasing pressure. At the same time, roads are reaching deeper into the plateau, settlements are expanding, and more young people are leaving for the cities in search of a different life.

While researching my film project Ghost of the Mountains, I spent time with a Changpa family from Kharnak. I photographed their daily lives, rituals, and relationship with a landscape that is slowly transforming around them.

This ongoing series grew from that time. It looks beyond the familiar images of Ladakh to explore the relationship between a community and the land that has sustained it for generations. Climate change is not something distant here. It is felt in the seasons, the water, the pastures, and the choices families make about their future.

A way of life built around movement is now facing a landscape that is changing beneath it, raising a deeper question: What happens when a culture built on movement is asked to stand still?