बाक्लो कुहिरो / FOGBOUND
SIKKIM, INDIA, ONGOING
When I was fifteen, I left Sikkim to study in the United States. Growing into adulthood away from home, I felt a gradual untethering from my cultural roots and an intangible absence when I returned. ‘Fogbound’ is a meditative photography series reflecting my altered spiritual relationship to Sikkim years after my departure. Initially conceived as a photo essay supported by the Steinbrecher Fellowship, the project shifted as I realized that language could not hold what the images revealed. Working with black-and-white film, I let my body and intuition guide me through familiar spaces, prioritizing emotion over explanation. The tactile, delayed nature of analog photography grounded me in the present, while push-processed grain allowed traces of memory to surface like the region’s fog and mist. The resulting images move toward abstraction, creating a contemplative space that reflects diasporic dislocation, spiritual loss, and evolving belonging. Rather than reconciling my relationship to home, ‘Fogbound‘ accepts its complexity, teaching me that while I cannot return to the home I left, I will continue to make new ones as I grow.