The Shepherdess of Yaqing: Like a Girl From a Chocolate Box
In 'Confession to the Plateau,' Frédéric Lemalet's final Instagram post, from September 20, 2023, carried the words: “Photo Series 11: Yaqing Temple Series concludes.” The image featured 11-year-old girl Pema Rigmo on the left and 13-year-old boy Waden Puntsok on the right. In that remote land long ago, inhabitants were proud of their own values, ancient legends, and heroic epics; they shared these stories for one purpose only—so that their children, once grown, would forever remember their identity and ancestral origins.
Since that time, he has posted nothing further. An online search reveals that Frédéric seldom appears on social media, and available information about him is scarce. As a result, gaining insight into him requires turning to Instagram, where he thoughtfully organized and posted the photographs he captured on the plateau, arranged into 11 collections: "Winter on the Plateau," "Nomads," "Tea on the Plateau," "Monasteries," "Portraits," and others.
Born in France in 1973, Frédéric worked as a travel photographer and journeyed through many regions of the world, but his soul was captured by only one place: the plateau. His photographs, which cover all four seasons and convey the essence of daily existence, are a love letter to the highlands. In these tents filled with light and shadow, faces and hands surface from the half-light; the parchment-like skin of the old gives off warm tones, while the finer complexions of children and the vivid shades of their clothes shine out. They are slowly fading away.
He embraced a new purpose born from his years on the plateau: to reveal its people and their culture to the world, for they are vanishing. Between 2003 and 2013, he frequently traveled between his homeland and that highland, fully absorbing the material and spiritual lives of those who lived there. Deeply moved by the rugged landscape, he remarked, "few lands inspire the world's imagination like this highland." In the people's spiritual quests, he uncovered the answers he had long been hunting for within himself.
Among the qualities that set Frédéric apart from other photographers was his use of a film camera for every shot, depending wholly on natural light—whether streaming through a window, a doorway, or a tent's entrance, or arising from the distinctive mix of darkness inside a black tent with sunlight filtering through and hearth smoke. Another distinguishing trait was his memory of nearly every subject's name and age, a fact revealed in the captions below each photograph.
Frédéric took particular pleasure in photographing the plateau's children, as seen with the girl on the chocolate box. There, he discovered an unusual method for calculating age. For example, he once met a young boy named Ergu: "He's 4 years old, but by Western standards, he'd only be 2 or 3. On the plateau, the nine months of pregnancy count as one year." This work not only demonstrates Frédéric's exceptional skill but also faithfully represents the region's natural and cultural landscape.
Frédéric met many cute and mischievous kids during filming. For instance, there was Genkar Lhamo, age 5, holding a cat in her family's tent; Rinchen Chokyi, age 6, cradling a lamb at the tent entrance; and a young herder girl who lived with her grandmother while her parents worked away—she reminded Frédéric of Alenka from the Russian chocolate box. Meanwhile, the local age-counting tradition means a baby born one month prior to the New Year is already 1 year old, and then turns 2 just one month later, right after the New Year.
Do you have a tea bowl (jhani)? Tea is indispensable to plateau society—it sustains monks’ alertness through long meditation and shields herders from the bitter cold of winter. Through Frédéric’s lens, plateau children appear in portraits of herding, gathering yak dung, and collecting firewood. From about age five, these children take on family chores as an essential element of their upbringing. Frédéric regarded this as the primary reason every child on the plateau grows up with such resilience.
Across the plateau, drinking tea is the most universal daily ritual, and nearly every person carries a personal tea bowl (*jhani*). Upon entering any tent, hosts will greet you with, "Do you have a tea bowl (jhani)?" The offering of butter tea serves as a sign of welcome and respect among highland communities. The drink itself varies by region: in pastoral areas, *pocha* is prepared from black tea, butter, and a small amount of salt, and its flavor changes depending on how long the butter has been aged. In Lhasa, the same beverage is called *cha namo*, where sugar takes the place of salt. A Tibetan is said to consume as many as 60 cups each day.
Frédéric's camera captured the essence of spiritual life on the plateau—hanging prayer flags, waking in the embrace of Mount Kailash, traveling to Lhasa, walking around monasteries, and meditating—all as integral moments along the route. Winter is the usual season for nomads to embark on pilgrimages to Lhasa, because frozen rivers make crossings far easier. These excursions can stretch on for an extraordinary length of time; one group Frédéric encountered reached their goal only after 2 years, 2 months, and 3 days.
Frédéric documented numerous people and stories during his journey to Mount Kailash. Some travelers carried all their necessities on their backs, while others made full-body prostrations, kneeling every three steps. On his second trip, the entire path was covered in snow, so he decided to set up his tent for the night at an altitude of about 5,500 meters.
His toes, nearly frostbitten from the cold, had kept him restless through the night and would remain black for two months. The next morning, as he woke to a soft dawn light, he was delighted to see the two figures from the photo walking past his tent at precisely that moment. "The scene was so beautiful," he later said. At -30°C, life for herders on the plateau means blizzards can appear without warning in both winter and summer.
In winter, temperatures in the Changtang region can fall to -30°C or even -40°C, yet herders continue their daily routines as if the intense cold had no impact on them. When questioned about feeling cold, they consistently shook their heads in the negative. In this sparsely populated area, wolves and other wildlife are frequently seen and seem used to people. At such times, herders hurry to bring their yaks, sheep, and horses back home to prevent them from getting lost, stolen, or attacked by wolves or snow leopards.
Beyond photography, Frédéric gathered hundreds of stories and legends recounted by elderly Tibetans by word of mouth, compiling them into a book titled Tibetan Folk Tales. These tales depict facets of the plateau's culture in wondrous and humorous fashions. Inhabitants must tend their livestock or locate stray sheep and yaks on snow-covered peaks. Such conditions have forged their strong bodies and unyielding determination. Stories, however, belong to the night.
These oral narratives deal with ethics, culture, values, and age-old wisdom, but above all they overflow with entertainment, bringing happiness to people. Transmitted from elders to children by word of mouth, they are later passed on by those children to their own kids when they mature. "Once upon a time, in this distant land, people took pride in their own values, ancient legends, and heroic epics.
Born in France in 1973, Frédéric Lemalet—photographer, artist, and writer—traveled widely across the globe, yet the plateau always held the greatest place in his heart. For several years, from 2003 to 2013, he made his home on that plateau, using photography to record its landscapes and traditions. “They told these stories solely so their children, when grown, would forever remember who they were and where their bloodline came from.” Let the world witness this people and their culture, for they are vanishing.
Many events have showcased his works, and a range of institutions have published them.