Nationalism+and+Tibet


 * Nationalism and Tibet** **- Gonkar Gyatso, Chen Danqing, Ang Sang, and Samchung (Sonum Lhundup)**



Title: //My Identity// Nos. 1-4 Artist(s): Gonkar Gyatso Date: 2003 Period: Modern Country of Origin: Tibetan Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation: Tibet Medium: Photographs, Installation Dimensions:object: Each 61,5 x 78 x 3,4 cm Museum/Collection: Gallery of Rossi and Rossi Ltd. London, England Current Location and Manner of Display: Gallery of Rossi and Rossi Ltd. London, England
 * Artwork Identification**

The history of Chinese – Tibetan relations is both long and troubled. Tibet, having been under the shadow of China since its conquest by the Mongols over seven hundred years ago, has had an even more traumatic 20th century. In 1950, after decades of de-facto independence from China during China's Republican and Warlord eras of the early 20th century, Tibet came once again under the direct rule of China with it’s invasion by the newly established People’s Republic of China. With the conquest of Tibet, and the re-establishment of direct control over it, China once again saw a wayward province restored to China proper. Tibetans on the other hand, saw the beginnings of a period where Tibetan culture and traditions were quashed in an effort to force assimilation. One of the results of this forced assimilation would be the birth, or re-birth, of the Tibetan Nationalism and Independence movements. Tibetan Nationalism is a particularly sensitive issue, as after decades of forced assimilation, most Tibetans share a common identity crisis, in that they find themselves part of the Chinese nation, but see themselves as a distinct minority that is part of nation that will not recognize the slightest hint of independence or cultural diversity. This identity crisis manifests itself in modern Tibetan art, which attempts to highlight Tibetan culture, while at the same time often making subliminal political statements that highlight the plight of the Tibetan people, in addition to making distinct, although sometimes subliminal, protests against China while at the same time attempting to solidify support for Tibetan nationalist movements and beliefs.
 * Introduction**

With the successful invasion and conquest of Tibet in 1950, the People’s Republic of China had once again taken control of what was seen as a wayward province, and began a series of measures to incorporate and begin the Sinicization of Tibetans now living within Chinese controlled territory,also later to be known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region
 * Background on issue in China and Tibet**

Beginning at almost the moment of conquest, but firmly taking hold by the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, China began a system of “cultural genocide in Tibet and throughout China by attempting to eliminate all traces of the Tibetan religion and the folk culture associated with it.” (Adams 1998, 77) Part of the reasoning behind this cultural genocide was to remove the influence of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama from Tibetan, and therefore Chinese-controlled life, which was seen as a threat, as are most religions, to the Chinese Communist government. Portions of this process would include an unlimited influx of Chinese peasants into the region, the beginnings of elimination of the Tibetan language, and the forced or coerced assimilation of Tibetans into Chinese culture.

The methods employed in this assimilation process would also include, in addition to unrestricted inflow of Chinese into Tibetan territory, the promotion or rewarding of any person or group who spoke or wrote Mandarin over traditional Tibetan language, the repression of Buddhism, and the sterilization of Tibetan women (Adams 1998, 77) to prevent further growth in the native Tibetan population.

The backlash against this policy of forced cultural and physical diminishment, or cultural genocide, would the rise and growth of modern Tibetan artists as one of the primary sources of political and social opposition to the Chinese rule of Tibet. Within this opposition however would be the struggle of modern Tibetan artists to overcome the very Sinicization that they were looking to protest. As some of the most famous Tibetan modern artists were born either just before or just after the Chinese invasion of 1950, their perspective has been one of conflict between their Tibetan heritage and giving in to the official Chinese programs of cultural extermination, as some, including Gonkar Gyatso were raised during the height of the Cultural Revolution and the chaos that reigned during that period.

This unique perspective has usually forced the artist in question to take one of two distinct paths if they wish to use their art as a commentary on Chinese rule, or to further the cause of Tibetan Nationalism.

First, the artists may choose to remain in China to pursue and create their art. This means that they must conform to Chinese Communist rule and dictates about what is allowed and not allowed within the body of the work. More often than not, as the occupation of Tibet is an extremely sensitive topic both inside and outside China, this means that no obvious references or topics covering opposition to Chinese rule may be permitted or tolerated if the artist wishes to have their work shown in any fashion. This means that the artist, if they wish to make any political or nationalist commentary at all, must disguise, or make the commentary as subliminal as possible, to get it past the official Chinese censors. This first method can often take the form of religious paintings using Buddhist symbolism, or pictures of the Buddhists to derive meanings of liberation or freedom from Chinese oppression.

 Next, the artist may choose a life of exile in a Western nation. This of course allows the artist much more freedom regarding their topic, but runs the risk of preventing native Tibetans, who still reside in Tibet and who may be the target audience, from seeing the work and gathering the message that the artist wishes to convey. And while this path has led to more international recognition for both the artists, and the cause of Tibetan Nationalism, which in addition to awareness, also raises funds through donations for Tibetan Nationalist movements, it can also be a path that leaves the artist isolated from his home country and culture.

By using art as a reference we are able to explore a little through Tibet and see the many issues they are facing with Nationalism. Art such as Gonkar Gyatsu's show us a man in different styles painting himself how others view him. Other artists such as Chen Danqing, who paints in a Western European style, show us a view point of a Chinese man after the cultural revolution who picked up the subject of Tibetan people in every day life. "The Kiss" subjects two Tibetans kissing, sparking much controversy in such a topic matter directly after the Cultural Revolution. Sonam Lhundup, though outcast and banished from Tibet, paints his views on Tibet as well.
 * Exploration of Nationalism and Tibet in Art**

As further exploration into Gonkar Gyatso’s work, My Identity this work takes into direct account one of the paths of a Tibetan artist mentioned in the section above. Gyatso, a Tibetan artist that lives and works in London, England, explores the different personality aspects that Tibetan artist living abroad often move through. In the work, actually a series of four independent photographs, Gyatso has had four self portrait photos made, each showing him dressed and working as a different type of Tibetan artist. The first is as a traditional Tibetan artist, next as a Chinese Tibetan artist, third as a Tibetan exile artist, and finally as a wealthy Tibetan artist living in London. While all showcase a different aspect of his personal life, to present a small biography of himself, it is also not impossible to view the individual pieces as snapshots of other individual artists. Also, the work provides a “colorful and fun and immediately recognizable” (Entsminger 2008, [|Link] ) series of images that express a remarkably deep understanding of Tibetan artists, their self-image, deeper nature, and their struggles to portray a political undertone to their work.

In addition to My Identity, Gyatso has done other more recent works that have looked at the relationship between Tibet and China, including //[|Yo, you, protect your airway] // (below). A work that subtly looks at several issues at once, including pollution, health, consumerism, American dictates into Chinese life, the ramifications of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the underlying impact that all of the topics have upon Tibet under Chinese rule.

Another modern Tibetan artist that attempts to portray difference aspects of Tibetan Nationalism is Ang Sang. Characterized with his work //Untitled//, Sang is best known for works that incorporate Buddhism and traditional Tibetan folk religion and practices into his art. As he still resides in Lhasa, Tibet, and cannot count himself amongst the artists whom have a more liberal approach to their topics, Sang’s work conforms to the Chinese government’s view of acceptable Tibetan art. And although his works do not overtly challenge Chinese rule, the underlying images and views of traditional Tibetan folk art and Buddhist influences does indirectly challenge the concept of Tibetan cultural decline in the face of a policy of Sinicization of his own country, and quietly pursues the concept of Tibetan Nationalism.

Though these artists have many different backgrounds, their subject is clear. Tibet provides a great topic in the exploration of Nationalism, from those people who live in Tibet, outcasted from Tibet, those people who have different cultural backgrounds, and even those who have many ethnicities including Tibetan can come together and paint on the aspects of their culture and land.




 * Bibliography**

Adams, Vicanne. (1998) “Suffering the Winds of Lhasa: Politicized Bodies, Human Rights, Cultural Difference, and Humanism in Tibet” //Medical Anthropology Quarterly//, New Series, 12(1), The Embodiment of Violence, 74-102.

Guang, Lei. (2005) “Realpolitik Nationalism: International Sources of Chinese Nationalism” //Modern// //China//, 31(4), 487-514.

Harris, Clare. (1999//) In the Image of// //Tibet// //Tibetan Painting after 1959//. London: Reaktion Books Ltd

Hillman, Ben. (2005) “Monastic Politics and the Local State in China: Authority and Autonomy in an Ethnically Tibetan Prefecture” //The// //China// //Journal//, 54, 29-51.

Griswold, Alexander B. (1964) "Art of the World: The Art of Burma, Korea, Tibet" Crown Publishers, Inc., New York 171-239

Lehman, Steve. (1998) "The Tibetans: A Struggle to Survive" Umbrage Editions, New York 178-196

Pal, Pratapaditya. (1969) "The Art of Tibet" The Asia Society, Inc., New York 14-19, 40-48

[] Gonkar Gyatso’s personal web page

[] A background of Gonkar Gyatso at the University of Kansas Museum of Art

[] The Sweet Tea House. A web site begun by Gonkar Gyatso to spotlight Tibetan artists.

[] A review of the art show featuring Gonkar Gyatso at the University of Kansas.

[|http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/Tibet/Tserials/TibetJour/2003springtj.html#gyat] The home of The Tibet Journal, a scholarly journal dedicated to Tibet.

[] A preview in the Daily Kansan about the Tibet art show featuring Gonkar Gyatso at the University of Kansas.

http://www.tba21.org/program/current/63/artworks/581?category=current A brief overview of the work //My Identity// by Gonkar Gyatso

Kolas, Ashild. (1996) “Tibetan Nationalism: The Politics of Religion” //Journal of Peace Research,// 33(1), 51-66.

Mathou, Thierry. (2005) “Tibet and Its Neighbors: Moving toward a New Chinese Strategy in the Himalayan Region” //Asian Survey//, 45(4), 503-521.

McGranahan, Carole. (2005) “Truth, Fear, and Lies: Exile Politics and Arrested Histories of Tibetan Resistance” //Cultural Anthropology//, 20(4), 570-600.

Zhao, Suisheng. (2000) “Chinese Nationalism and Its International Orientations” //Political Science Quarterly//, 115(1), 1-33.

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 * Title: ** Identity Self Portrait
 * Grade Level: ** 8th-10th
 * Time: **5-6 50 minute class periods


 * Standards and Benchmarks: **
 * This lesson meets the following National Standards for Art Education **
 * NA- VA 3: ** Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas (2)
 * NA- VA 4: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures (2,3)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **5:** Digital Citizenship (b,c)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This lesson meets the following National Education of Technology Standards **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> 1: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Creativity and Innovation (b)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Central Concepts: **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Culture: **<span class="ssens" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The beliefs, social characteristics, and traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Culture is important because it is the foundation of this lesson. The Tibetans have peacefully fought to hold on to their cultural beliefs and traits for many years.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Identity:** <span class="ssens" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The distinguishing character or personality of an individual <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> or group. Many Tibetans suffer from feeling an identity connection with both Tibetan and Chinese culture.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> **Nationalism:** The loyalty and devotion to a nation**.** Tibetans are a proud nation, but under Chinese control they could not express how they felt. They were only to follow Chinese cultural standards.

Activity 1: VTS and //Vimeo// Video (1-2 class periods)
 * Lesson Activities**
 * Provide students with a brief introduction about Tibet and the impact of China on the Tibetan culture, traditions and identities.
 * Show part of video //Stolen Freedom// on **Vimeo** and ask students to take notes for a discussion after the video ( the video is 34 minutes long, if you wish to show the whole film you may need an extra day)
 * Discuss with the students what they thought of the movie. Encourage them to be active by initiating questions such as “How did the movie make you feel about our country and identities?” “Is identity important?” “Do you feel that you may be able to relate on some level to identity crisis’s and why?” “What do you take from the Tibetan culture and it’s artwork?” Have the students get up and face each other, in a big group or circle to make sure everyone is active.
 * Bring up the interactive museum website for Rubin Museum of Art ([]) and show the students historical artworks by Tibetans as well as contemporary artworks. Especially those that focus on the concept of identity and Tibetan/Chinese artists such as Gonkar Gyatso, Norbu Tsering and Kelsang Tsering (you may have to download the virtual tour through iTunes, if this is not an option you can just view the different artworks individually).
 * For homework, have the students log into a group page, specifically made for class discussions, in Facebook to discuss the movie and artworks they saw. Each student must comment on at least two others and provide reasoning as to why they feel the way they do.

Activity 2: Research symbolism and personal characteristics (30 min to 1 class period)
 * Discuss briefly the contemporary Tibetan works again and how the artists portrayed his feelings.
 * Introduce the next lesson, a self portrait and discuss the future projects guidelines as well as what level of work is expected of students
 * Have the students create brainstorm maps using PowerPoint, or Microsoft Word of what they wish to convey in their portraits, have them print these pages out or post them to the Facebook class group page so that they can reference them later on.
 * Ask them what identity conflicts do they deal with everyday, it could be social, economical or even environmental.

Activity 3: Self Portrait (2- 3 class periods)
 * The students will create self-portrait that represent who they are and what they feel they are made up of.
 * They will use the symbols they researched and choose to integrate characteristics they wish to include about themselves.
 * Clothing can be different as well as hair and makeup but it must have a likeness.
 * Students can use any art materials they deem appropriate for the idea that they wish to convey. This includes paint, pastel, graphite, mixed media, photo transfer, or printing.
 * Lastly, have them write a half a page about why the aspects in their portrait were chosen and how they think this affected their own personal life.

Activity 4: Digital Portfolio and Critique (1-2 class periods) Teacher Name:
 * Finally, the students will present their works. If the class does not have a class blog or digital portfolios then have the students take turns displaying their work and explaining their content after the class has commented.
 * If the class does have a digital portfolio, have the students access it and comment on at least two other students’ work. Discussion is more effective this way and allows for more activities during the class period. After the students have provided comments get students back together and talk about their view on the assignment as a whole.
 * Depending on the class this might take a little bit of time but as long as everyone gets their work discussed then the time limit should be less of a priority.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Assessment: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">Self Portrait Rubric **
 * CATEGORY || 4 || 3 || 2 || 1 || Score ||
 * Attractiveness/Craftsmanship || The self portrait shows that the creator was took great pride in his/her work. The design and construction look carefully planned. The item is neat and follows lesson guidelines. || The self portrait shows that the creator took pride in his/her work. The design and construction look planned. The item has a few flaws in content and application but these do not detract from the overall look. || The design and construction were planned. The item has several flaws that detract from the overall look. || The self portrait looks thrown together at the last minute. It appears that little design or planning was done. Craftsmanship is poor. ||  ||
 * Knowledge about Culture/Story || The student can answer 3 questions correctly about how the self portrait relates to the Tibetan identity crisis and how it relates to themselves. || The student can answer 2 questions correctly about how the self portrait relates to the Tibetan identity crisis and how it relates to themselves. || The student can answer 1 question correctly about how the self portrait relates to the Tibetan identity crisis and how it relates to themselves. || The student does not understand how the self portrait relates to the Tibetan identity crisis and how it relates to themselves. ||  ||
 * Time and Effort || Class time was used wisely. Much time and effort went into the planning and design of the self portrait. It is clear the student worked at home as well as at school. || Class time was used wisely. Student could have put in more time and effort at home. || Class time was not always used wisely, but student did do some additional work at home. || Class time was not used wisely and the student put in no additional effort. ||  ||
 * Creativity || Totally original design, no element is an exact copy of designs seen in source material, portrait really shows what students wanted to convey || Most of the self portrait elements are unique and personal, but 1 or 2 elements may be replicated from source material. || Some aspects of the self portrait are unique, but several elements are copied from source materials or other students. || The self portrait is plain and low in content. No personality shine through. ||  ||

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14.6667px;">The assignment will be graded using a couple of scoring tools. The teacher will observe the students while they are creating (as best as he/she can) making note of each students thinking process, use of material and correct procedures. All of these will be subject to change depending on the student and will be recorded with either a checklist or tally format. Again this may be hard depending on how many students are in each classroom. The overall artwork and description will be graded using a rating scale that covers each of the desired outcomes and expected qualities on a scale of either 1 to 5 or A to D. This way students will know what they are being graded on and where they fall, points or grade wise, in that specific category. A key will have to be provided for the students to compare their grade with. Students will also get extra points for participating in the critique.

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 * References:**
 * Beattie, Donna Kay. //Assessment in Art Education//. Davis Publications. 1997.
 * Roland Craig. //The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet.// Davis Publications. 2005.
 * Vimeo //Stolen Freedom//Charu Sharma. Diploma Film at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. 2011.
 * []
 * Rubin Museum of Art. New York. 2013 RMA
 * []
 * theage.com.au.//Tibetan artists tread a tightrope in Beijing//
 * http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tibetan-artists-tread-a-tightrope/2007/06/01/1180205513877.html?page=2
 * Rubistar Rubrics
 * http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=CustomizeTemplate&use_user_rubric=yes&