Category: Asia
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Nature in art
Nature in art The art works of Priya Ravish Mehra shown at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018 speak of life. The fibres of paper and cloth, the colours used, they all come from nature. As do the twigs, roots, leaves and other elements that she has integrated in her sheets and hangings. Their collective, overall impression…
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Spare-ribs
Spare-ribs That’s what I thought they were. Relics of the skeleton of a gigantic prehistoric animal. Casually placed against a wall. Or are they remains of the skeletons of palm leaves? Plant and animal world (including us) are of the same nature after all. Photo of the week: Margao, Goa, India 2012
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I know where I’m going!
I know where I’m going! A deserted beach. A flag on a pole in the wind. A woman walks with unfaltering steps straight to the point. What point? Where? Why? “I know where I’m going!” says her body. For us who only have one image and not the whole film, it will remain a mystery.…
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Sand fish
Sand fish A small crab made a hole on the beach of Dona Paula. The sea came in to have a look, came in and retreated. The crab, the sand and the sea they played together. They made a lovely fish. What shall we eat today? Photo of the week: Beach at Dona Paula, Goa,…
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Gyantse Kumbum
The biggest and best preserved pyramidal multi-chapel monument of the kind in Tibet. It has more than 70 – dark – chapels inside, almost all decorated with murals and statues. We can look at the kumbum as a three-dimensional mandala: when you project the whole building on its ground-plan, it represents a visual metaphor of…
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Gyantse Dzong
The castle (dzong) of Gyantse of which the oldest parts date back to the 14th century, is towering above the city on the high clifs of the mountain. At the time Newari artists came from Nepal for carrying out the decoration of the buildings inside the fortress with murals that would influence later Tibetan painting…
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The Tibetan plateau
Lying north of the Himalayas, the Tibetan plateau has an average altitude of 4000 m. It is mostly dry and bare. Hardly any of the monsoon rains from India and Nepal manage to cross the barrier of the high Himalayan mountain ranges. So the average yearly rainfall in Tibet is only about 40 cm. That…
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Pilgrims’ attraction
During the three-day festival in July when the giant thanka is exposed – see last week’s post -, pilgrims come from far and wide. They climb the stairs to the base of the thanka-wall, walk past and go down on the other side. For a good overview of the images on the thanka it would…
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Tashilhunpo Thanka
Tashilhunpo in Shigatse is the largest monastery in Tibet and the seat of the Panchen Lamas. The complex contains several golden roofed monuments and a multitude of chapels filled with statues and adorned with murals, thankas and other treasures. For 362 days of the year the view of this monastic city is not exactly like…
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Shekar Monastery
It may be in the middle of nowhere, but like most of the erstwhile 1000 monasteries in Tibet, this one too could not escape the destructive fury of the Cultural Revolution. Partly rebuilt, it has again become a centre of study and worship, nourished by the “White Crystal” (Shekar) inside. Photo of the week: Shekar…
καιρός remembered 