Tibetans in the lens of Phil Borges

American photographer Phil Borges travels the world and takes pictures of representatives of various small peoples with whom he has to face. For example, the photos you are about to see depict the inhabitants of Tibet.

Jigme and Sonam are sisters from a nomadic family who have just descended from the Himalayas to their winter camp located on the Tibetan plateau at an altitude of 5000 m above sea level. When I showed Jigma her polaroid portrait, she screamed and ran into the tent. I realized that it was the first time she saw herself from the outside, because there is no mirror in her family.

Yama, her parents and three sisters went from Kam Province on a 6-week pilgrimage to Lhasa, to the Jokang Temple.

Pusung and Dundup are father and son. I reached their camp at an altitude of 5200 m above sea level in December, on a very cold and windy day. They had just finished their prayer and were preparing to sacrifice two yaks in the name of a satisfying winter. It was a completely primitive rite. It seemed that this scene could have taken place two hundred years ago on the North American prairies.

Tseten was almost fifty when a large herd of goats and yaks was taken from him and he was forced to leave Tibet. He is one of two thousand Tibetans living in a refugee camp near Choglamsar in Ladakh. Here he has only one goat and a small plot of land on which he grows vegetables.

Shelo and Benba have been best friends since childhood. They work as maids at a hotel in Nyalam, an ancient Tibetan village that has become a transit point for climbers on the way to Everest.

Dolma had never met Westerners before. She reached out to me, touched my shoulder and quickly pulled her hand away, hid it under her cape and laughed. As a young girl, she fled across the Tibetan-Indian border with her family after a rumor spread that the inhabitants of their nomadic camp would be forced to live in a commune.

Norzum remembers perfectly well how he fled Tibet with his family as a boy. Moving at night and hiding during the day, they crossed the border to Ladakh in more than twenty days. During a severe frost at an altitude of more than 5000 m, his younger brother died. Norzum says that the places where he now has to live are much harsher than his homeland.

Lobsang, along with 66 other monks, was arrested in 1959. He was released from prison only after 21 years and turned out to be one of the three survivors. His best friend died in prison right in his arms. When Lobsang met Tenzin, he recognized him as the reincarnation of his friend. Lobsang claims that he sees in this young man the features of a deceased old comrade.

Cesim and Deki are old friends. They were among the 100,000 Tibetans who fled Tibet in 1959 with the Dalai Lama. Deka's husband was killed during the uprising, but she was able to take her five children with her. Since then, Deki has settled in Dharamsala, near the Dalai Lama and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile.

Pemba came to the village of Trak-Tok with her mother and sister for a dance festival on a sunny but frosty December day. She caught my attention because she was absolutely engrossed in the spectacle. It seemed that during the whole ceremony she never moved, despite the piercing icy wind.

Samden came to Ganden (one of the largest Tibetan monasteries-universities) at the age of 12. During the Cultural Revolution, Ganden was completely destroyed, as were the other 6,200 Tibetan monasteries, of which only 11 survived. Samden was 44 years old at the time. Now he is 72, and he still lives in this restored monastery.