Prabir Purkayastha

Born in 1952, in a small military town, I traveled and schooled across India . After completing my Bachelors degree, in English Literature, I left for Thailand where I worked, in leading English dailies and magazines, from ‘73 till '80. Returning to India , in '80, I began my career in advertising and worked for over two decades in some of India 's leading advertising agencies - Everest, Clarion, O&M and Mudra.
When I went up to the mountains in Ladhak, for the first time in 1991, I thought I was going to die! The unending desolation and visual bleakness scared the living daylights out of me! I wanted to leave and never return. But, some journeys choose us and slowly Ladakh wove her magic into my soul, replacing all my fears with pure adoration.

Now, for the past 17 years I have been traveling and photographing Ladakh – and the passion continues to grow with every visit.

Since 2002 my Ladakh photographs have been exhibited in New Delhi , Mumbai, London , New York , Katonah(USA) and Chicago . They have also been exhibited, by Fuji Films, in Cologne Germany , and by Bodhi Arts in a group show in Singapore .

In 2002, my show ‘Aksaha' was awarded The Habitat Award for Best Photography Exhibition. And, in 2003 my InterGlobe calendar won a Gold at the SAPPI Asian Awards for Printing.

During the past few years my Ladakh photographs and photo essays have been published in leading magazines and newspapers in India and abroad. In 2006 my work on Ladakh won the international B/W Photography Magazine Spotlight Award.

In the summer 2005, and again in 2007, I presented picture talk shows, of my wall mural photography, of Ladakhi monasteries, at the Rubin Museum of Arts, New York.

In April, 2005, my coffee table picture book, ‘Ladakh' was published. ‘Ladakh' took almost a decade to photograph and write, with endless months of traveling on foot, jeeps, trucks and horsebacks. ‘Ladakh' won the Silver at the SAPPI awards in Jakarta and was voted ‘Book-of-the-Month', by Better Photography (UK), in July 2006. ‘Ladakh', was launched, along with a showing of my pictures, by Prestel & Bamford, in London , in Oct 2006.

Currently, and in addition to my Ladakh work, I am photographing Assam and three countries in Indochina