A Tibetan Painter’s Exhibition Steals Capital’s Heart
New Delhi 24 April 2005: An exhibition of a budding Tibetan painter was inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit yesterday. ‘Mountains of Mind –
A Journey with a Tibetan Painter’ is underway at the India International Centre, which features 21 paintings of a Central Tibetan Administration staff posted in Mainpat Tibetan settlement. Tenzin Jamyang, 28, is a painter not by qualification but by interest. It is the first time that an exhibition of paintings by a Tibetan is held in the Indian capital, that too at a nationally reputed locale. “I don’t need to say anything, they (paintings) speak for themselves”, the Chief Minister who also bought two paintings said on being asked for her reaction,
Jamyang feels grateful to Charkha, a non governmental organisation working for the marginalised people, and the India International Centre which have jointly helped him make his dream come true and giving him exposure.
Jamyang has tried to get admission at a fine art school in Delhi but had to face rejection thrice. But he did not give up and was finally rewarded with a diploma course in fine arts at Jamia Milia Islamia University.
“I am overwhelmed by the support I got from various people for my paintings which for me is not just a passion but a way of communicating with others. I feel so proud for the fact I am able to represent Tibet here in Delhi whose people have never thought that here could be Tibetan painters. I am able to interact with so many people who don’t know about Tibet and I was able to tell many visitors about Tibet”, Jamyang says.
Jamyang has held small exhibitions in Dharamsala but this is the biggest break of his life. “As a child I was made to draw all that came to my mind and the first thing that I drew was mountains, nomad tents, yaks and rivers depicting our imagination about our country which I never had the privilege of seeing”.
Jamyang believes that his paintings, unlike today’s contemporary art, is not an abstract but concrete and attempts to present to the world the beauty of nature seen through his brush.