Tibet Girl
Born with a traveler's spirit, photographer Alison Wright roams the globe, documenting the people and places she visits. In her new book Face to Face: Portraits of the Human Spirit, she shares her pictures of people she's encountered. "The planet, at times, can seem so vast, with the numbers almost too large for us to comprehend," she writes. "But when you capture the look in someone’s eyes, an intimate stare, a knowing glance, his or her situation becomes a shared experience, a more personal connection."
I consider Asia my second home and I feel especially captivated by the nomads of Tibet, an area I have visited numerous times over the last two decades. I feel drawn to those who live close to the land, documenting communities that may not last even another generation.
On this trip I was driving in the remote eastern region of the Tibetan Plateau when I saw this young girl, part of a crowd returning from a horse festival. It was pouring rain, so I brought her to a nearby school to take her photograph. She was so small that the light from the window barely reached her; I had to stand her on a desk. Even at the age of four, she had a face that seemed to express the underlying sadness of a culture that has been so challenged. Yet she had a look of resilience and tenacity well beyond her years. —Alison Wright
Near Manigango, Kham, Tibetan Plateau, 2005
"Face to Face": Portraits From Alison Wright
Photographer Alison Wright shares the stunning portraits taken during her travels around the world—and the stories behind the photos.
