Baygan Portrait

Baygan, a Kazakh woman and semi-nomadic animal herder, gazes out of a window from inside her family home in the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. Baygan has lived her entire life in the countryside, visiting the nearest town of Olgii only once in her youth. Every day, Baygan works outdoors in physically harsh and demanding conditions, reflecting the resilience and spirit of the Kazakh families whose livelihoods depend on the animals they keep and the land that sustains them.

Published in The New York Times online on February 22, 2021, and in print on March 5, 2021.