living root bridges

Acrylic on panel

24″ x 16″

featured in the Curio Card Club

Warm moist air sweeps off the Bay of Bengal and crashes into a plateau—the eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, the “abode of clouds”—making it the rainiest place on earth. There the Khasi people grow living root bridges from the dangling aerial roots of the rubber fig tree. These bridges take an immense amount of care and patience to cultivate over generations but are essential to traverse the river, gorge, and steep, muddy terrain.