India News | Tibetan School Students Express Longing to Return to Homeland on Canvas
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A simple artwork can sometime deliver a powerful social message, and that's what a group of Tibetan school students in India have done, using the canvas to imagine their homeland and express a longing to return to the land of their ancestors.
New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI) A simple artwork can sometime deliver a powerful social message, and that's what a group of Tibetan school students in India have done, using the canvas to imagine their homeland and express a longing to return to the land of their ancestors.
Fifty thematic artworks made by Tibetan students of classes ranging from 6-12, have been displayed at the India Habitat Centre here as part of an exhibition titled 'Dreaming Tibet', which opened on Monday.
The theme of the show, which will run till March 15, is 'If I were in Tibet', and nearly all the students along with their artworks have also put up a note, expressing their deep sense of longing for their homeland.
The day, March 10, also holds a great significance for the Tibetan community, which considers the Dalai Lama as its spiritual leader.
The CTA on Monday marked the Tibetan National Uprising Day in Dharamshala to commemorate the Tibetan people who, on this day in 1959, had assembled in Lhasa to protest over the "illegal occupation" of Tibet.
Since 1959, the Dalai Lama as been living in north India, with the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) working from Dharamshala. Their long-standing demand is an autonomous Tibet.
The exhibition is an initiative of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with support from Khadhok, a Dharamshala-based collective of contemporary Tibetan visual artists dedicated to preserving and re-imagining Tibetan identity through art.
"These 50 children, students whose artworks have been exhibited were born in India and raised in this country, but like their parents, grandparents, they long to return to their homeland. And, through art, they have sought to portray what free Tibet means for them," a representative of the foundation told PTI.
Each student has verbally or visually expressed the feeling in a different way, but their overriding message is the same, he said.
"After over 60 years of occupation, Tibetan children are growing up in exile, often disconnected from their homeland. The 'Dreaming Tibet' youth art exhibition offers a profound insight into how young Tibetan students envision life in a homeland they have never seen," according to a note on the exhibition shared by the organisers.
Centred around the theme 'If I were in Tibet', these artworks reflect their unique perspectives on identity, cultural roots, and aspirations, all while "navigating the complexities of exile".
The resulting artworks -- paintings, drawings, and mixed media -- represent not only individual dreams but also the resilience of a generation separated from their homeland; a rare glimpse into the emotional and cultural landscapes these children envision, it says.
As part of Khadhok's first Youth Art Engagement Project, supported by The Tibet Fund, this initiative nurtures creativity and empowers young Tibetan artists to express their heritage and aspirations through art, organisers said.
Workshops were conducted in five schools across Himachal Pradesh -- Upper TCV, Mewoen Tsuglag Petoen School, CV Gopalpur, TCV Suja, and TCV Chauntra -- where students from classes 6 to 12 created works reflecting their personal stories, the representative said.
"From 180 submissions, a jury selected 50 outstanding pieces to be exhibited. This exhibition invites you to witness the dreams of a new generation, whose art serves as both a reflection of their past and a vision for their future," the note says.
Students have depicted their sentiments through visual portrayal of blue skies, mountains, monasteries, children playing gleefully in the fields, with a Tibetan flag depicted on a kite, among other artworks.
Just breathing our country's fresh air and its smell would be enough, wrote a class 10 student along with the artwork.
Another student of class 9, in his crayon artwork, depicts himself in a traditional Tibetan dress overlooking the city from a fortified perch.
"...How happy I will be when I come back to my motherland and breathe the air of my true hoe....Oh, I wish one day this art can become reality," the student writes in the note accompanying the artwork.
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