"Nomad" by Jeroen Toirkens

Nomad by Jeroen Toirkens

Jeroen Toirkens' new book titled "Nomad" catapults us into the raw reality of life and survival as it is lived by nomadic Asian, Dukha, Artic and Inuit peoples. Toirkens creates photographs that crystallize a mood like the weathered face of a Dukha woman, a Dukha child handling reindeer and the exuberant joy on a Khalkh Mongol boy's face.



These pictures are not idealized cliches of nomadic existence, they are well balanced statements that capture the modern hybrid of nomad life where the most basic machine technology meshes with the ancient steppe nomad and Inuit's inherent commodities of strength, dynamism and flexibility in the face of Nature's wrath.



A quintessential Toirken image capture a Mongol teenage girl bestride a motorbike looking back at what? the distant past? the changes looming on the horizon? or something urgently calling to her before she leave the present and moves towards a new future? At her feet lie the basic essentials for survival on the ancient steppe; containers of milk, water and gasoline.

Lectures - May 20 - 21, 2011 "Where Have All the Yaks Gone?"

Visions of Development in Minority
and Indigenous Societies:
Where Have All the Yaks Gone?
Friday & Saturday, May 20 - 21, 2011
Location: Trace foundation - 132 Perry Street, Suite 2B, New York City
Phone - (212) 367-7380

The grasslands are changing. Across the Tibetan Plateau, desertification, biodiversity loss and ecological relocations are dramatically altering the landscape, and reshaping Tibetan society. What’s happening on the grasslands today poses unprecedented challenges to Tibetan communities, and will have a profound impact on them far into the future.

Join us Friday and Saturday, May 20th and 21st for the first event in our second lecture series, Visions of Development, as we explore the state of the plateau’s grasslands, and its bearing upon the future of Tibetan communities.

Visions of Development brings together speakers from a wide array of professional and academic backgrounds to explore the effects of diverse development strategies being deployed around the world on local communities. Through lectures and panel discussions Visions of Development will examine the global process of development, with a special comparative emphasis on the Tibetan case. Click here to register.