Curator's Note

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Ladakh is a land of extremes, offering one of the driest climates and one of the highest topographies on the planet. However, far from forming obstacles blocking the region off from the rest of the world, the tall mountains and deep valleys of the region have since times immemorial represented fantastic corridors travelled by merchants, armies and bandits from all origins in a struggle to control the rich trade routes and precious resources of this land.

 

The usual image we have of Ladakh is that of a ‘Little Tibet’, and it is through this filter that its history is typically fantasized: history started with Tibetan king Kyilde Nyimagon, Buddhism started with Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo — before that there was pretty much nothing according to typical folklore. This however couldn’t be further from the actual wonderful and deep past of the region.

 

Ladakh was a land at the crossroads, and was as such at the centre of History in this part of the world. Traces of human activity on the plateau can be tracked to as far back as 169,000–226,000 years ago: there has always been humans in these high lands. There were kingdoms and empires in Ladakh long before Tibetans ever set foot in the region.

 

Rock art is the material that embodies this history the best. It covers all parts of the history of the region from prehistory to nowadays, and it is in Ladakh that we find the highest densities of petroglyphs in the entire Tibetan, Himalayan, and Pamir belt: Ladakh and rock art have truly been inextricably intertwined throughout time.

 

The goal of this exhibition is to introduce this fascinatingly rich history.