The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
- Maya Angelou
Project Premise
The Tibetan community has been in exile for over 50 years. The Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and the consequent flight of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to India led to thousands of Tibetans seeking refuge in India.
Today, there are about 1,45,150 refugees worldwide, with the largest number of refugees residing in India. The total population of registered Tibetans in India in 1998 was 85,147 and the estimated figure for 2007 was 1,01,242. Currently, the Tibetans live in 38 settlements all over India.1
India has provided the Tibetan refugees with shelter and leased acres of land in order to rehabilitate them. As a diaspora community in exile, they strive to preserve their culture and heritage. Many of the refugees have also opted not to take up Indian Citizenship as they feel like it will make their struggle for their freedom weaker and that they will soon be forgotten. From the interviews and interactions I had with them in Bylakuppe, I saw that many of them consider India to be just a temporary home and are waiting to go back to Tibet.
This project revolves around the idea of home. What defines a home? Is it the place we are born in to, our ‘homeland’? Is it the physical attributes or the emotional attachment to a place? How do both these qualities interplay with each other to make the space comfortable for us to live in?
Being at ‘home’ also raises the important question of identity. We imbibe the culture and traditions from the place and the people we live around. So what truly is home?
Observing the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe, I enquired and questioned how the newer generation have coped and or are still coping with their identities and their roots in their current ‘home’ that is away from their homeland.
Today, there are about 1,45,150 refugees worldwide, with the largest number of refugees residing in India. The total population of registered Tibetans in India in 1998 was 85,147 and the estimated figure for 2007 was 1,01,242. Currently, the Tibetans live in 38 settlements all over India.1
India has provided the Tibetan refugees with shelter and leased acres of land in order to rehabilitate them. As a diaspora community in exile, they strive to preserve their culture and heritage. Many of the refugees have also opted not to take up Indian Citizenship as they feel like it will make their struggle for their freedom weaker and that they will soon be forgotten. From the interviews and interactions I had with them in Bylakuppe, I saw that many of them consider India to be just a temporary home and are waiting to go back to Tibet.
This project revolves around the idea of home. What defines a home? Is it the place we are born in to, our ‘homeland’? Is it the physical attributes or the emotional attachment to a place? How do both these qualities interplay with each other to make the space comfortable for us to live in?
Being at ‘home’ also raises the important question of identity. We imbibe the culture and traditions from the place and the people we live around. So what truly is home?
Observing the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe, I enquired and questioned how the newer generation have coped and or are still coping with their identities and their roots in their current ‘home’ that is away from their homeland.
Photos from Bylakuppe, the second largest Tibetan settlement in India
The photo below was taken on 2nd september in Bylakuppe. It marks the day His Holiness the Dalai lama declared Tibet a democracy.
Story telling session with children from the S.O.S Tibetan Village School
Various reactions to my story. Many of them told me about their current homes and about their families back in Tibet
Character iteration
Storyboard
Visual style exploration
Tools used for developing and painting the final spreads
Final visual style and a few spreads from the book
