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Gillian Marshall
 I have always had an innate passion for Asia; a priceless legacy gifted me by my late aunt and uncle, Margaret and Frederick Williamson. Derrick was a British Political Officer who served in Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim (the latter, now a territory of India) in the 1930’s; tragically, he died before I was born, but through Peggy’s journals and their photographs my destiny was made known to me. During the last decade, I have been fortunate to travel extensively each year in Asia, following in their footsteps and carving out my own unique odyssey…journeying ever deeper into Tibet, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka and Mongolia.
Each of my journeys to this fragile region of our planet brings riches beyond compare. A kaleidoscope of gloriously colorful cultures and contrasts, myths and history, folklore and traditions. In 1897, Mark Twain described India as “the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods…”. To me, South Asia is all of that. The awesome majesty of the mighty Himalaya; Tibet’s high plateaus, dotted with yaks and nomads; the lush green countryside and tranquil backwaters of Kerala; Rajasthan, state of princely palaces and the Thar desert; the mystique of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and the tribes who live in their woodlands and hills; the “Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon”, Bhutan, steeped in Buddhism…a land of flora and fauna, monasteries and mountain streams, prayer flags and prayer wheels. On my travels, I am blessed to come to know the people of these regions - indigenous peoples, many of whom still live at one with their ancestors. Giggling, curious children surround me as I immerse myself in mystic cultures and delight in the richness of my experiences. Through my photography, I strive to capture the essence of these precious souls whom I meet along the way - each with their unique, distinct culture and customs. If, through my photography, I can bring to my viewers a sense of South Asia, its peoples and its culture, then my dream is fulfilled.
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