"Padme" the Sanskrit word for lotus.

Padme refers to the flower that grows from the mud, rises through murky water, and opens in the light.

In April 2025, I traveled with my father and brother to the high Himalayas of India where our names – Tenz and Pema – come from. My father’s stories brought us there. We grew up with my father’s stories , adventures and photographs about India.

PADME is a tribute to resilience, to people who, like the lotus, continue to bloom despite everything. With Padme, I want to show what it feels like when resilience becomes a way of life. The images reflect what I saw in India. the strength, the softness and the light that exists even in difficult places.

For me, Padme is a reminder that beauty can grow anywhere, and that people, like the lotus, find ways to bloom no matter what surrounds them.