#pamiris

Roshorv village in Bartang Valley, Tajikistan

“In her portfolio “Pamiri Girl,” photographer-artist Narisa Ladak captures traditional clothing worn by women of Pamir, Tajikistan. The women in these portraits immigrated to New York and Toronto, where Ladak photographed them wearing traditional Pamiri and Tajik clothing: kurta dresses in brilliant reds and whites, pechak hairpieces braided into their hair, and sifc beaded necklaces. All of the clothing is handmade, embroidered, and patterned in vibrant colors, and much of the fabric is silky or velvet.Tajikistan’s Pamiri ethnic group lives in the Pamir Mountains that border Afghanistan, where Ladak met many Tajik women while working in telecommunications there for two years. Ladak was drawn to the women for their grace but also personally: Like most Pamiris and her “Pamiri Girl” subjects, Ladak is part of the Shia Ismaili sect of Islam. Pamiri women are known to have more freedom than Tajik women: They eschew veiled clothing and often participate in public gatherings as men would.“I was intrigued by how modern these women were, and how their culture and customs were so heavily influenced by the historical rule of their country by the Soviet Union until 1991,” Ladak, who is from Toronto, says. “I wondered how their culture interacted with Islam in a place so physically close to a conservative country like Afghanistan, yet a place so far away in terms of ideologies and customs.”

Photographed by Carolyn Drake in Roshorv, Tajikistan

Los Pamiris, Tayikistan