‘A Portrait of Ourselves’ is a powerful exploration of a life shaped by chance encounters, bold choices, and an unwavering passion for truth and humanity. It tells the story of Marilyn Silverstone, one of the first women Magnum photographers, and her transformation into a Buddhist nun, through the memories and stories of her many friends. The book is illustrated with her photographs, which range from war-torn famines to kings and queens and Buddhist lamas.

From her groundbreaking career as one of Magnum’s first female photographers to her profound transformation as a Buddhist nun, Marilyn’s story is moving, inspiring, and unforgettable.

“A photograph is a subjective impression. It is what the photographer sees. … the whole corpus of our work becomes a portrait of ourselves.”   
  Marilyn Silverstone

Chance events of Marilyn Silverstone’s lifetime shaped her destiny. The portrait that emerged focused on friendships, photography, and Buddhism.

“The vast theater of my life as a photojournalist was so rich and varied it overflowed all boundaries.”

Marilyn Silverstone was one of the first woman photographers to join Magnum after her work graced the cover of Life and other publications. She had started working as a professional photographer in New York City in 1955, then three years later, went to India for four months.

There Marilyn lived for 14 years, feeling at home with its people, society, and culture. Her first scoop was photographs of HH Dalai Lama as he boarded a train in India, having escaped Tibet. She won the trust of her wide range of subjects from royalty to farmers and politicians to priests.

Marilyn took an unexpected turn, when she met her spiritual teacher and took ordination as a Buddhist nun in 1977. She moved to Nepal where she spent two decades dedicated to Buddhism, her Tibetan teachers, and supporting the cause of women in Buddhism.

“When I look back over the years, although I didn’t realize it at the time, ending my life as a Buddhist nun was logical and inevitable.”