Skarma Sonam Tashi

“For the India Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, I have created an installation which is titled ‘Echoes of Home’ that reflects my relationship with my homeland, Ladakh. The work draws on traditional Ladakhi houses, which are built using earth, stone, timber, and collective knowledge passed down through generations. The work is constructed from recycled cardboard, papier-mâché, and clay, which appears on the mezzanine like a settlement resting on a mountain slope.

Recreating Ladakhi houses in papier-mâché allows me to translate the wisdom of building architecture in harmony with nature into a contemporary visual language. Traditional Ladakhi homes are climate-intelligent structures designed to trap warmth in winter and cool in summer.

Both Himalayan landscapes and Venice exist in constant negotiation with environmental forces. In Ladakh, glaciers and water cycles determine life; in Venice, tides and erosion do the same. Both places rely on human adaptation rather than control. Climate change intensifies these vulnerabilities, making sustainability an urgent concern. What connects them is fragility, not as weakness, but as a condition that demands care. By bringing Ladakhi domestic forms into Venice, I highlight this shared sensitivity. The work becomes a meeting point between two geographies that remind us how deeply human survival is tied to environmental balance.”