Living Lightly: Journeys with the Pastoralists

For years, I have been documenting the lives of pastoralist communities across Kutch, Telangana, and Maharashtra, capturing their deep connection to landscapes shaped by movement, resilience, and ancestral knowledge.

These communities—Rabaris, Dhangars, Lambadis, Banjaras, among others—navigate a delicate balance between tradition and change as they traverse vast terrains with their herds. Through photography and design, my long-term project explores the ephemeral architecture of their camps, the rhythms of migration, and the intricate relationship between pastoralists, their animals, and the environment.

In an era of shifting ecologies, land conflicts, and policy shifts that threaten these ways of life, this project seeks to visually archive their existence while reflecting on questions of sustainability, identity, and adaptation with respect to change.