Ahtushi Deshpande is a travel journalist and one of India’s top 80 photographers, recognized by the India Photo Archive Foundation in 2022. Her recent book, Speaking Stones: Rock Art of Ladakh (2024), was a finalist for the 2024 Banff International Mountain Book Award. Her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveller, GEO, Marie Claire, and Outlook Traveller. Her travelogue, To the Land of Snow is part of high school curricula. She has curated three solo exhibitions: “Therefore I Climb” (2006), “The Colour of My Cancer” (2016), and “Speaking Stones”, recently showcased at the Médiathèque Edmond Rostand in Paris.