Public Project
THE FEARLESS SISTERS OF THE DRAGON ORDER
Summary
The Fearless Sisters of the Dragon Order follows the Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa lineage—Buddhist women who defy gender norms through martial arts, spirituality, and activism. They teach self-defense, lead climate-focused Cycle Yatras across the Himalayas and Europe, and empower girls in regions where gender violence is widespread. This long-term project documents their movement as a bold, embodied solution to oppression, blending tradition with transformative action.
The Fearless Sisters of the Dragon Order is a long-term documentary project that follows the extraordinary lives of the Kung Fu Nuns, a group of Buddhist nuns from the Drukpa lineage, who are breaking centuries-old gender norms through martial arts, spiritual leadership, and grassroots activism.
The Drukpa lineage, rooted in the Himalayas and over 800 years old, is the only Buddhist order where nuns have the same rights as monks. But these women are not only spiritual practitioners — they are climate activists, gender equality advocates, and self-defense trainers. In regions where women are expected to be silent and submissive, the Kung Fu Nuns have become a living solution to generational oppression — a dynamic force of change from within.
Clad in robes and performing cartweels, the nuns defy expectations. They train in Kung Fu daily, teach self-defense to girls, and lead Cycle Yatras — cycling pilgrimages of thousands of kilometers across the Himalayas to raise awareness about environmental protection and women’s rights. In recent years, their message has gone global: some of the nuns are Western women now living and training in France, and they’ve begun Cycle Yatras across Europe to spread their mission internationally.
This project began in 2019, with the support of the VG Bild-Kunst Grant, as I documented the nuns in Nepal and Northern India. In 2023, it was commissioned and published by GEO magazine (Germany). I returned to Nepal in December 2024 / January 2025 to deepen the visual narrative, having earned rare and sustained access to the community.
As a freelance photographer and 2nd Dan Taekwondo martial artist, my approach is immersive and empathetic. I have practiced martial arts for over 20 years and teach self-defense to women — a shared physical language that allows me to connect deeply with my subjects. It is through this lens that I explore the body not only as a site of struggle but as a solution to fear, silence, and inequality.
This project is personal, political, and spiritual. It offers a rare inside look at women who are challenging the limits of tradition and reshaping the future of faith-based feminism. In places like India — ranked by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the most dangerous country for women (2018) — the nuns’ work is more than symbolic; it is a practical solution for survival and dignity.
Their voices speak volumes. “We learn Kung Fu to bring the girls up,” says Jigme Migyur Palmo, a 28-year-old nun and self-defense trainer. “Our motivation is to lift up women.” Her student, Tsering Youdon, 14, said: “The boys in my class used to beat girls. I was scared. But now I will fight back. The nuns are my idols.”
Through The Fearless Sisters of the Dragon Order, I aim to tell a story of female-led solutions — deeply rooted in tradition, yet radically transformative. These women are offering new models of leadership, blending nonviolent resistance, physical empowerment, and spiritual commitment to address global issues such as gender-based violence and climate change.
As a freelance photographer dedicated to long-form, underreported stories, I believe the Kung Fu Nuns represent not only a compelling narrative — but a living solution to some of our most urgent global challenges.
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