Jérôme Gence’s travels began with a childhood dream.

“Back then, when I was growing up on Réunion Island, we didn’t have the means to travel. One day, guest speakers came to our school to present a documentary about the Himalayas. That documentary fascinated me. The Himalayas became my childhood dream. From Réunion, I imagined what they might look like.”

After finishing high school, he moved to Paris, where he earned a Master’s degree in entrepreneurship and became a data analyst. One Sunday, he watched a documentary about the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the small train that runs through the Indian Himalayan town famous for its tea.

“In the documentary, there was a portrait of a village woman named Sita Chettri. She carried the luggage of passengers arriving by train. It is an extremely difficult job, but she did it because she had a dream: to give her five sons the best possible education. I was touched by her story and decided to go and meet her. I took three weeks off and set out to find her. It was my first time in India. From Calcutta, I made my way to Darjeeling.”

Equipped with his camera, Jérôme Gence took his first photographs during this journey.

“When I was in the Himalayas, I began making portraits of the people I had dreamed of as a child. Photography was an unexpected encounter on that journey — perhaps the most beautiful one, because it allowed me never to forget all the others.”