: A Cafe, A Snow Leopard More: Inside Ladakh’s Unique Ice Sculpture Exhibition #IndiaNEWS In early 2018, over a span of 25 gruelling days, three Ladakhi artists — Tsering Gurmet Kungyam, Chemet

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A Cafe, A Snow Leopard More: Inside Ladakh’s Unique Ice Sculpture Exhibition #IndiaNEWS
In early 2018, over a span of 25 gruelling days, three Ladakhi artists — Tsering Gurmet Kungyam, Chemet Dorjay, and Stanzin Khangsar — came together to construct a Changchup Chorten (symbolising the Buddha’s moment of enlightenment).   Located inside the Ice Stupa in Phyang village, located approximately 15 km from Leh, the 10-feet-high chorten was made entirely of ice. (Image above of the Ice Cafe in Chilling valleyaerial viewand an artist working)
Changchup Chorten
Since then, these artists have gone on to make sculptures in the Leh market, and travelled across the world. They learnt the art of making structures from ice, like the Ice Hotel, in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, attended international snow and ice festivals in China, and saw the potential of this art form in promoting winter tourism in Ladakh.


 










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While it was just the three in the beginning, over the years, they have added more personnel. These young artists, largely in their 20s, include Stanzin Nurboo, Tashi Namgyal, Stanzin Wangyal, Stanzin Motup, Tundup Dorjay and Tsewang Gyaltson. On 23 December 2021, the group came together to establish the Kangsing (‘Snow Lion’, celestial animal of Himalayan region) Snow and Ice Sculpture Association.
Ice Sculpture: Snow Leopard (Image courtesy Office of the Lt. Governor, Ladakh/Twitter)
This year, they organised the Ladakh Snow and Ice Sculpture Workshop 2022 in Chilling valley, along the frozen Zanskar River. This ‘first of its kind’ workshop was attended by 20-25 artists. Logistical support for participants came from the Ladakh Police, Ladakh Union Territory (UT) administration, Contractor Association of Ladakh, All Ladakh Hotel and Guest House Association, Department of tourism, and Ladakh Scouts regiment of the Indian Army.
While snow spraying guns and cutting machines are used to make these ice sculptures abroad, the first workshop concluded with traditional chisels, chainsaws, and other locally-made cutting machines.
Ice Cafe under night lights (Photo courtesy Pachuk Nyoma/Ladakh)
Coming Together
“We brought together local graphic designers, traditional painters, artists, and sculptors who work on other mediums, and created a group called the Kangsing Snow and Ice Sculpture Association. In the past two years, we have seen what we need to help the practice of making ice sculptures flourish. During our visits to Sweden and China, we bought some smaller tools. However, we created our own ice-carving tool, akin to a wood-carving chisel, but only larger in size,� says Gurmet Kungyam, one of the region’s leading sculptors, speaking to The Better India.

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