Who is the Panchen Lama?
The Tibetans believe that the Panchen Lama is the reincarnation of
the Buddha Amitabha who lived in the16th century. They believe that the
soul of the dead Lama has continued its existence in the physical bodies
of eleven different people since then. After his predecessor, the 10th
Panchen Lama, died under suspicious circumstances in Tibet in 1989, the
current (11th reincarnation) Panchen Lama was discovered in May 1995.
The then 5 year-old was taken hostage along with his family and other Lamas
and monks. Figures like the Panchen Lama, second in importance to
the Dalai Lama, serve as powerful symbols of religious and national identity,
both inside and outside of Tibet.
Why is the Panchen Lama in prison?
When the Chinese government heard about the Dalai Lama’s selection
of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in May 1995, they arrested him and his family within
days and imprisoned them in China. The Chinese then searched for
their own "replacement” Panchen Lama. In November 1995, they selected
and enthroned six year-old Gyaltsen Norbu in Lhasa in the hope of gaining
control over one most powerful religious leaders in Tibet.
There was much protest against the Chinese imprisonment of young Gedhun
around the world. The European and Australian Parliaments and the United
States Senate, for example, condemned the arrest of the youngest political
prisoner. The Chinese government has rejected these protests and many official
inquiries about his situation since it said that the selection of the Panchen
Lama was an “internal affair.” In May 1996, the Chinese government
finally admitted that it had detained Gedhun, although his whereabouts
remain unknown.
Where did this artwork come from?
In 1996, not long after the disappearance of the Panchen Lama, staff
from the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala asked
children in Tibetan settlement schools to draw pictures of or about the
Panchen Lama. The names of the children who produced these images have
been covered, as to protect them from possible political repercussions.
When approaching these children and young adults with the subject of
the Panchen Lama, some of them knew the story of his disappearance; others
did not. Many children were familiar with his image, as photographs of
high Lamas are very common in Tibetan homes on private altars as well as
in temples and schools.
The images
Many young artists in this exhibition were primarily concerned with
creating a likeness of the Panchen Lama as close to reality as possible.
Their mastery of the material may have been a way to honor his memory.
There are only a few different photographs of the young boy in circulation,
which explains why many of these representations look so similar.
Most images depict a political situation. In some drawings, the Chinese
seem to be presented as the enemy. The drawings may indicate that the children
understand that there are Tibetans who protest Chinese actions against
their people, in demonstrations for example. Some of the pictures have
a political cartoon aspect or indicate that the political situation is
polarized.
The children who created these works either left Tibet at a young age,
or were born in exile. The young artists, by painting images of Tibet,
were using the creative process to attempt to bring the past and their
lost culture into the present exile culture. Indeed, by identifying with
certain aspects of the Panchen Lama’s story some of the children may also
be expressing their own feelings about loss (disappearance) of family and
country. Helplessness and powerlessness against the Chinese invaders
are common recurring themes for these children.
This site contains only a few of the pictures of the original exhibit.
The exhibition was shown at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in NYC from
Nov.99 – Jan. 2000. It also was shown at the events in observation of the
UN Day for the survivors of torture in June 1999 and 2OOO in NYC.
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