Ahmad Ibrahim - Tibetan Artists Silenced at Dhaka Art Summit
On the 7th of February, Tibetan artist Nortse and Indian
artists Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam had their photographs and art
installations removed at the behest of the Chinese ambassador to Dhaka from the
Dhaka Art Summit taking place in Shilpakala Academy in the capital of
Bangladesh. The art project by Nortse was titled Prayer Wheel, Big Brother and
Automan (2007) which showed the artist don traditional Tibetan clothes along
with modern objects to show the surveillance that marks their lives.
NB: China entered the United Nations in 1971 (with Indian support) and immediately replaced Taiwan in the Security Council. In September 1972, it veto-ed Bangladesh's entry into the UN, against the support of 86 nations in the general assembly. This was the first use of the veto by China - DS
Ritu
Sarin and Tenzing Sonam produced a piece called “Last Words”, which consists of
five facsmilies of five last messages written by the self-immolators in Tibet,
along with their English translations. Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam depicted
Tibetan monks in the act of self-immolation as a way of political and religious
protest against the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese government.
At the end of the 6th of February, both artists were still
depicted on the walls of the Art Summit. On the 7th, what greeted the visitors
and patrons were blank stretches of white wall with white frames. It was as if
the works had never existed. This is not the first time the Chinese government
has tried to shut down political art work that aims to show the real face of
Chinese occupation of Tibet. What is even more reprehensible is that it
happened inside the walls of an institution that was proclaiming itself to be a
haven of bold art and artistic expression.
That the Chinese government could go
to such lengths to silence an exhibition happening thousands of miles away
shows the depth of their oppression over an entire country. Since February
2009, 142 Tibetans have self-immolated in their homeland, 120 dying from their
actions.
