The Tessin-born photographer Alessandra Meniconzi has spent the last decade travelling along the over 2,000-year-old trade route that links East and West: the Silk Route. On her mountain bike, she followed the traces of the countless merchants that once transported valuable spices and valuable fabrics and jewelry along this route from Turkey via Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to Tibet, and from Pakistan over the Hindukush and on to China.
On her travels, she not only crossed the endless steppes and some of the most impressive mountain ranges in the world, her sensitive, understanding nature allowed her to gain access to lives that often remain hidden to the photographer's lens. She spent time in the tents of Uzbek nomads and the kitchens of Tibetan monks. She drank tea with members of Pakistan's Kalash tribe and was invited to the wedding celebrations of a Kazach couple.
The photographs provide a comprehensive, personal insight into the original lives of the people who live along the Silk Route and are fighting for the survival of their traditions in modern Asia.
