| Events
Events organised or highlighted by Wild Nomads related to the Tibetan World in travel, film, arts, music, wildlife and enviroment
IRON RABBIT YEAR 2011
APRIL
Friday Now to 21st -> Sometimes Lies are prettier-> London
Rossi & Rossi are proud to announce their upcoming solo exhibition by Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan. Fresh from his recent one man show at MIT List, in Massachusetts, this will be his first solo exhibition in the UK. In "Sometimes Lies are Prettier" the artist explores the controversy of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, kidnapped, and replaced by their own candidate, by the Chinese authorities in May 1995 only days after he was identified by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. Renowned for his almost obsessive immersion in his subject matter - Strachan has not only trained as a deep sea diver but also as an astronaut - the works will examine some of the themes familiar to those who have followed his impressive - and still young, career. Invisibility and disappearance, the phenomena of existing in more than one place, duplication and the notion of the impossible thread through and inform his works which are are highly multidisciplinary, impinging on the world of science and technology, but nonetheless classical in the sense that they draw attention to the existential conditions of human beings and cultural myths. For the duration of the show the familiar space of the gallery will be transformed into darkened rooms housing lightboxes, neon work and a 2000lb 'invisible' glass sculpture set inside a tank of mineral oil which appears and disappears as one walks around it.
www.youtube.com/user/wildnomads#p/u/0/vGXP3XAXogc
www.rossirossi.com/news/
Wednesday Now to 6th -> Beyond Mandala -> Mumbai -> India
Rossi & Rossi in association with Volte Gallery, Mumbai, is pleased to present Beyond the Mandala - Contemporary Art From Tibet. Featuring four Tibetan artists: Gade, Tsherin Sherpa, Tenzing Rigdol and Palden Weinreb, this will be the first exhibition in India devoted to contemporary Tibetan art. Coming after the successful museum shows Tradition Transformed - Tibetan Artists Respond at the Rubin Museum in New York and The Scorching Sun of Tibet in Beijing, this exhibition provides a chance for the Indian audience to see something of the variety of the Tibetan contemporary art scene.
VOLTE
2/19, Kamal Mansion, First Floor,
near Radio Club, above White Pearl Hotel,
Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba, Mumbai
tel +91 (0) 22 2204 1220
www.volte.in
Friday 15 -> Tibetan Environmental conference -> London
Tuesday 22nd March is World Water Day, and water access is a pressing issue both in Tibet and downstream nations. Mining and damming are playing a significant role in damaging Tibet 's rivers and lakes and could put a billion people at risk.
SFT UK is hosting its first academic conference on 15th April in London , where some of the world's leading experts on Tibet 's environment will be speaking.
Meltwater from Tibet 's glaciers feeds many of Asia's major rivers including the Yangtze, Brahmaputra, Indus, Yellow River, Mekong and the Ganges . Hundreds of millions of people live on and depend on these rivers for their livelihoods and basic needs. Tibet 's water also plays a role in the adjustment of climate on the Tibetan plateau, and supports the unique ecology of the Tibetan plateau. However, since the Chinese invasion of Tibet , huge damage has been done to Tibet 's rivers, and lakes. Tibet 's environment is in crisis, and Chinese policies in the region could lead to widespread water access problems
www.sftuk.org
MARCH
Friday 25 -> Patterson of Tibet -> Lesmahagow -> Scotland
Light of Truth award presented to legendary ‘bearded Khampa' George Patterson
ICT press release, March 25, 2011
Scotland: The International Campaign for Tibet's 2011 Light of Truth award was presented today to 90-year old author George Patterson, who earned legendary status as the ‘bearded Khampa' for his support to Tibetan resistance fighters, and who became one of the first people to report the Chinese invasion of Tibet.
The Light of Truth award honors individuals and institutions that have made significant contributions to the public understanding of Tibet. It was presented today at George Patterson's retirement home in Lesmahagow, Scotland, by the Dalai Lama's Representative for Northern Europe, Thubten Samdup, and Mary Beth Markey, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.
In a letter presented with the award, a simple butter-lamp symbolizing the light the recipient has shed on the cause of Tibet, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari said: “It is my honor to convey to you in writing the decision of the Board of the International Campaign for Tibet to award you the Light of Truth, the
highest recognition in the Tibet world of service to Tibet. The Board of Directors, chaired by Mr. Richard Gere, took the unanimous decision with great enthusiasm and, on their behalf, I offer you heartfelt congratulations. It gives my added pleasure as a Khampa to be the person to officially bring this news to you, Khampa Gyau [‘bearded Khampa'], the name by which His Holiness the Dalai Lama fondly and humorously called you.”
George Patterson, a Scot from Falkirk, first travelled to Tibet as a Christian missionary in 1947. With the Tibetan border town of Kangting as a base he travelled extensively in East Tibet, living among the Khampas and learning the language while treating them medically. With the Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet imminent in 1950, and his medical supplies depleted, at the request of Khampa leaders he travelled across Tibet from east to west by a previously unexplored and treacherous route to alert the governments of India, Britain and USA regarding the expected Chinese invasion and to seek help for the Khampas in their resistance, arriving in India in March, 1950.
Opening his speech with some words in Khampa, George Patterson said that he had never really expected to receive the Light of Truth award because he “had not thought he had done anything to deserve it”. In a moving statement about his life, surrounded by family and friends, Mr Patterson gave an account of his journey across Tibet into India to obtain medical supplies and alert the world to the imminent Chinese invasion of Tibet: “My decision [to do this] meant I would have to cross the worst terrain tin the world at the worst time of year – midwinter - and without a map, to get across a thousand miles across [high mountain ranges]. At that time of year there were Siberian winds and snow and in the intense cold during the night, you hear the rocks splitting as they changed from the daytime heat to the night-time cold. That has an effect on the person. I had to become used to sleeping with the horses or the yaks - I much preferred the horses.”
George Patterson documented in his speech the response from Western governments to the crisis in Tibet, which ranged from disbelief to an unwillingness to engage. Unable to return to Tibet because of the Chinese occupation he remained on the Indian-Tibetan border towns of Kalimpong and Darjeeling from 1950-61, actively studying the life and politics of the Himalayan and Central Asian peoples and remaining deeply committed to the plight of the Tibetan people. At one point when he was asked to help by the Khampas, he said: “I was George Patterson from a small village in Scotland, I had left school when I was just approaching 14, and now was being asked to negotiate between countries at the highest level.”
Mr Patterson, who has authored more than seven books, traveled back into Tibet in the mid-1960s with a camera on a dangerous mission to document a raid on a Chinese military truck convoy by Tibetan guerillas. The resulting film, ‘Raid Into Tibet', became the only available film of Tibetan resistance efforts in Tibet from the remote Mustang area from 1960 to 1974.
George Patterson's late wife Dr Meg also became well-known for her ground-breaking work in Asia, and developed a new treatment for drug addiction (NeuroElectric Therapy, or NET) which is still used today.
Past recipients of the Light of Truth award include: Desmond Tutu, Vaclav Havel, Elie Wiesel, world-renowned author, political activist, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986; Martin Scorsese, Director, Richard Gere, actor and humanitarian, and the people of India.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) works to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Tibet. Founded in 1988, ICT is a non-profit membership organization with offices in Washington D.C., Amsterdam and Berlin.
Press contact:
Kate Saunders
Communications Director, International Campaign for Tibet
Email: press@savetibet.org
Tel: +44 (0) 7947 138612
Sunday 20 -> Patterson of Tibet -> Scotland ->Scotsman on Sunday
Dalai Lama honours Scots hero of Tibetan struggle
By Craig Brown
HE TRAVELLED on horseback through uncharted parts of the Himalayas in the depths of winter to deliver a plea for help to the outside world from Tibet as it faced invasion by the Chinese army.
Now, more than 60 years on, George Patterson is to receive the most prestigious award in the Tibetan movement for his work on behalf of the nation.
The 90-year-old Scot, a personal friend of the Dalai Lama, is to be presented this week with the Light of Truth Award from the International Campaign for Tibet .
Patterson, who is originally from Falkirk and now lives in a care home in Lesmahagow, first travelled to the area as a missionary in 1947. He befriended a group of Tibetan resistance fighters on the China-Tibet border and became their medical officer
In the winter of 1949, under increasing pressure from the Chinese forces and with military and medical supplies running low, the leader of the resistance called on Patterson to travel to India to issue a plea for international help. He made the perilous three-month journey accompanied by three Tibetan helpers.
"We had to deal with blizzards that came virtually every day," he said. "I slept with the horses some of the time, I even slept with a yak, just to get the body heat because it was biting cold.
"The Tibetans didn't use tents, so it was easier to go with what they were used to. They used to find dung from previous travelling parties and set it alight using sparks from their guns."
After struggling through the mountains, the group then had to contend with the jungles of India , where local tribes were known historically as headhunters, before arriving finally at Calcutta where he met US, UK and Indian intelligence officials.
Patterson's request was turned down and he made to return to Tibet , but an earthquake, illness and the arrival of the monsoon season kept him in India while the Chinese invasion began in 1950.
Patterson became a journalist and his coverage of the conflict brought him into contact with the Dalai Lama.
"He is very charismatic, a very natural manner, a man of the people, and yet he can mix with the highest," he said. "He can do this because it is a natural part of his personality."
Having helped the Dalai Lama's brother to escape to America , Patterson came close to achieving the same feat with the spiritual leader in the early 1950s, carrying out negotiations with US authorities.
"He had been prepared to leave but the three abbots of the three major monasteries were with him and made him consult the oracle," said Patterson.
"When he did this, the oracle (an adviser in a state of possession] said he had to return to Lhasa ."
It was not until 1959 that the Dalai Lama was finally forced to flee into India with the help of the CIA, where he formed a government in exile.
The Light of Truth Award is given to people and institutions who have made significant contributions to the public understanding of Tibet and the fight for human rights and democracy for the Tibetan people. The award itself is a simple butter lamp.
Among those who have been presented with the award are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, film director Martin Scorsese, actor Richard Gere and former Czech president Václav Havel.
The award is normally presented by the Dalai Lama on behalf of the International Campaign for Tibet , but because of Patterson's poor health, Tibetan officials will travel to Scotland to present it to him on Wednesday.
Patterson also continues to publicise the drug treatment programme developed by his late wife Dr Meg Patterson. Neuro Electric Therapy, which involves sending electric pulses through the brain, has helped addicts including rock stars Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Pete Townshend.
www.scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/news/Dalai-Lama-honours-Scots-hero.6737117.jp
Website • Tibet Album - Oxford
The Tibet Album presents more than 6000 photographs spanning 30 years of Tibet's history. These extraordinary photographs are a unique record of people long gone and places changed beyond all recognition. They also document the ways that British visitors encountered Tibet and Tibetans.
Featuring photographs taken by Charles Bell, Arthur Hopkinson, Evan Nepean, Hugh Richardson, Frederick Spencer Chapman, Harry Staunton and the previously unidentified photographs of Rabden Lepcha.
http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk
|
