Travels Across the Roof of the World: A Himalayan Memoir

Travels Across the Roof of the World: A Himalayan Memoir

A Photography Exhibition, Book Launch, and Lecture by William  and Anne Frej

The Frejs will also give a talk on their work at the gallery on Saturday, October 8 from 1-3 p.m.

The exhibition concludes on November 8, 2022.

Travels Across the Roof of the World: A Himalayan Memoir (2022) is just published by George  F. Thompson Publishing. The 280-page book with 228 color photographs provides a  sweeping yet intimate view of the breathtaking peaks, splendid valleys, and extraordinary  people of the Himalaya, from the Pamir Mountains in Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan’s  fabled Hindu Kush, the Karakoram in Pakistan, and the Great Himalaya Range that  stretches across northern India, Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan.

Unique in scope among photography books on the Himalaya, Travels Across the Roof of the  World chronicles the authors more than twenty pilgrimages throughout this region  spanning forty years and 3,000 miles through some of the world’s most remote and  difficult-to-reach country. Inspired by the devotion to the practice of Tibetan Buddhism  they encountered in the villagers they met on their first trek to Nepal in 1981, they set out  on a quest to document Asia’s highest peaks as well as the lives of the resilient people living  in these remote mountain communities.

When they began, trekkers from the West through these regions were few. Even now, trips are demanding––but not nearly as harsh as the daily lives of the residents, who continue to exist in a kind of stunning isolation that has allowed them to maintain the rich cultural traditions and spiritual practices that have sustained them over many centuries.

The book includes a Foreword by Michael Tobias and Jane Gray Morrison, noted authors  and film-makers. An essay by Edwin Bernbaum on “Sacred Mountains: Symbolism and  Significance” adds to the depth of the pictures, with his focus on the symbolism, religious  importance, and associated legends of these sacred places. The authors also share extensive  vignettes about the places they visited and how they have changed over time.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

William Frej is an award-winning photographer who has been photographing Indigenous  people for more than forty years while living in Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and  Afghanistan as a career diplomat with the United States Agency for International  Development and while traveling in other remote, mountainous regions of Asia.

His book of black-and-white photographs, Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert  Maler (Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020), has won sixteen awards. His second book, Seasons of  Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021),  has won eight awards including four “photography book of the year” awards including the  Gold Medal Best Photography book for 2021 from Foreword Indies/Foreword Reviews.

The book also received two wins from the Moscow International Foto Awards competition in its book division: a Gold medal for the “people” subject matter category, and Second Place, Book Photographer of the Year. Last year’s accolades for the book include Bronze Medal, Photography Books, Tokyo International Foto Awards; Silver Medal, Photography Books/People, Budapest International Photography Awards; and Finalist, National Indie Excellence® Awards.

Anne Frej is an urban planner who focused on feasibility studies and design concepts for  commercial real estate projects in the U.S., Indonesia, Central Europe, and Central Asia. At  the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in Washington, D.C., she was the project director and  primary contributor to four books published by the Institute. At the U.S. Embassy in Kabul,  Afghanistan, she was a cultural resources planner responsible for community outreach  program and cultural heritage activities. She was a contributor to Maya Ruins Revisited and  Seasons of Ceremonies.

The Frejs have lived in Santa Fe since 2010. William Frej is represented by Peyton Wright Gallery and has had six one-person photography exhibitions at the gallery.