dawa_dolma_thesis_documentation_sp2013

A N I N V E S T I G A T I O N O F T H E T I B E T A N L I F E S T Y L E & C U L T U R ET O S H E D L I G H T T O T H E C H I N E S E P O L I T I C S G O V E R N I N G T I B E T D A W A D O L M A

W H Y

The unique lifestyle, culture, and religion are a unifying force for all Tibetans, and it is for the preservation of this culture and its values that so many Tibetans are not even hesitating to self-immolate themselves to continue the fifty years of struggle and solidarity in the fight for freedom. The Tibetans sacrificing themselves are crying out for help and recognition from the international community and it is their cries that I would like to bring forward to the people around me and educate and inform them about the issues of cultural genocide and human rights.

H O W

My design approach I have used in achieving my goals have been through the medium of two videos and a typographic book. For the two videos Tibetan Altars and The Mundane Tibetan Life, I have taken a more personal standpoint wherein I choose to capture the Tibetan culture, its practices, and religious activities revolving around it from my own perspective. The book titled A Fight for Freedom on the other hand, is a very political piece with facts as the main content that showcase the issues that Tibetans have been facing for decades under the brutal Chinese occupation.

A I M

Tibet is an innate part of me that has been endowed upon me by birth. Despite growing up in the culture, there are certain practices, customs, objects that are very alien to me. All of these have immense symbolism and complexity.

My aim is to study the Tibetan lifestyle and culture in order to shed light to the political issues and difficulties faced by the Tibetans in Tibet under the Chinese regime.

T H E S I S S TAT E M E N T | 3D AWA D O L M A | I N T R O D U C T I O N

H O W T O H A N D B O O K

For this project I made a small handbook that has step by step instructions on how I go about doing daily rituals in the altar room.

H O W T O H A N D B O O K | 4D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

Drawings showing the Tibetan ritual of offering water bowls in the altar

A S T U D Y O F M Y A LTA R R O O M

1. Guru Rinpoche, Buddha, Green Tara

2. H.H. The Dalai Lama Poster with Potala

3. Green Tara Thangka

4. H.H. The Dalai Lama Photo Frame

5. Water Bowls

6. Serkhem

7. Mende

8. Longevity Vase

9. Chenrenzi Silk Brocade Thangka

10. Prayer Beads

11. Pecha (Holy Scriptures)

12. Mani (Prayer Wheel)

13. Om Mani Padme Hum

14. H.H. The Dalai Lama Thangka

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A S T U D Y O F M Y A LTA R R O O M | 5D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

A photograph showing the Tibetan altar space

A LTA R P H O T O C O L L E C T I O N

For this project I took photos of my altar room. I took wide angle shots and very detailed shots as well, showing how it looks visually.

A LTA R P H O T O C O L L E C T I O N | 6D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

Photographs showing the Tibetan altar space


Detail shots of the Tibetan altar space

T I B E TA N T Y P E S T U D Y

For this project I experimented with the Tibetan script. I made my father write down the name of the ritual objects in Tibetan since I cannot write in Tibetan. I am trying to learn the language since I really like the structure of the letters and it is very calligraphic. རླུང་རྟ་

མཆོད་ཤོམས

པད་ཆ་

མཆོད་ཁང

T I B E TA N T Y P E S T U D Y | 9D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

The Tibetan script

B O O K E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

For this project I decided to make a book that uses images that are textured and use typography to address the facts about the issues of the Tibetan people.

B O O K E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N | 10D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

Spreads of the book experimentation project

B O O K E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

For some spreads I decided to just use typography since I liked the balance between the negative space and the type.

B O O K E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N | 11D AWA D O L M A | P R O C E S S A N D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N

Spreads of the book experimentation project

T I B E TA N A LTA R S

Tibetan Altars is an amalgamation of my personal narrative, Tibetan culture and lifestyle, and the mundane activities with a revelation about the political conditions and issues faced by Tibetans in Tibet. It captures my father performing the unique Tibetan ritual and practice of offering water bowls every morning in the altar. The altar is a very sacred part of the home where religious prayers are performed and Tibetans have a genuine feeling of reverence towards it since it serves as a door towards attaining Buddha hood and connecting with the divine power. The activities of lighting butter lamps and burning of incense is accompanied with the water offerings. It also shows my sister emptying the water bowls during the evening before sundown so that it can be used for the next day. This ritual is a mandatory activity performed by all Tibetans. On the other hand, I have also used political issues faced by Tibetans in Tibet with the help of typography in the video.

The way in which I addressed these political issues are by juxtaposing them with the practices of the mundane Tibetan life and cultural activities since it is this culture that is at the risk of being lost.

https://vimeo.com/62827577

T I B E TA N A LTA R S | 12D AWA D O L M A | F I N A L P R O J E C T 1

Detail shot showing the juxtaposition of type and the altar rituals


T I B E TA N A LTA R S | 13D AWA D O L M A | F I N A L P R O J E C T 1

Various detail shots of Tibetan Altars

T H E M U N D A N E T I B E TA N L I F E

The Mundane Tibetan Life captures my experience during a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sites in Nepal with my family. I have tried to show the mundane religious rituals that Tibetans perform from a day-to-day basis to occasionally.

The entire video embodies the metaphor of the passing of time, which symbolizes the decades of Tibetan struggle under the Chinese government. Also the metaphor of repetition, which stresses the diligence of the Tibetan people’s effort in attaining a “Free Tibet.”


T H E M U N D A N E T I B E TA N L I F E | 14D AWA D O L M A | F I N A L P R O J E C T 2

Detail shot of my pilgrimage in Nepal showing the fleeting prayers flags


T H E M U N D A N E T I B E TA N L I F E | 15D AWA D O L M A | F I N A L P R O J E C T 2

Various detail shots of The Mundane Tibetan Life

A F I G H T F O R F R E E D O M

A Fight for Freedom on the other hand, is a very political piece with facts as the main content that showcase the issues that Tibetans have been facing for decades under the brutal Chinese occupation. It takes factual information about the Tibetan people’s fight for freedom and portrays it in the form of a typographic visual language that is bold and confronting to the viewer along with some images. I used the colors of the Tibetan prayer flags- blue, red, green, and yellow to distinguish each topic with a specific color and kept the design monotone by inverting the colors occasionally.

Since the layperson is only aware of the “Free Tibet” slogan, and not the actual meaning and issues about cultural genocide and human rights faced by the Tibetans for decades; my concept was to educate them about the issues in a holistic way.

http://issuu.com/dawadolma/docs/tibet_freedom

A F I G H T F O R F R E E D O M | 16D AWA D O L M A | F I N A L P R O J E C T 3

The Cover and Backcover of the book

http://issuu.com/dawadolma/docs/a_fight_for_freedom


Spreads of A Fight for Freedom

dawa_dolma_thesis_documentation_sp2013

Documents

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