2012年5月16日 星期三

雷伊·桑斯特(Leigh Sangster):自焚时期的图伯特当代艺术



作者:雷伊•桑斯特(Leigh Sangster),梅杰巴达学院(Maitripa College)
译者:John Lee @johnlee1021
文章来源:《文化人类学》(Cultural Anthropology)学刊特刊
标题:The Work of Art in the Age of Self-Immolation
时间:2012年3月25日
原文网址:http://culanth.org/?q=node/543


在图伯特(西藏)境内外,当代艺术在过去十年里已经成为强调表达图伯特文化特性和现代性的文化势力。世界各地的图伯特艺术家们正开始对发生在图伯特的自焚 事件作出批判性的反应,但是目前还只能看到流亡艺术家们的作品。在图伯特境内,即使有这类的艺术作品,也无法安全地传播和出版。在当今这个图伯特现代历史 上的紧要关头,定居海外的年轻流亡艺术家们用他们的画作开创性地描绘了博巴(藏人)的情感、思索和政治态度。

噶玛平措(Karma Phuntsok),《图伯特的自我牺牲》(Self Sacrifice in Tibet. 2011)。经作者允许使用。
噶玛平措的《图伯特的自我牺牲》(Self Sacrifice in Tibet. 2011),翻制恶搞了一幅八十年代的画作《1936年,朱德将军会见格达活佛》【1】。在噶玛平措的版本中,那位中国将军(原文如此,其实国人一眼便知 画中的“将军”是毛泽东的形象——译者)趾高气扬地望着画面空白处一个悬浮的汽油桶,附近有一个打火机和一根火柴。画面顶部中央的火焰中,是第一位自焚的 博巴图丹欧珠(Thupten Ngodup,1998年4月27日在印度自焚)的笑脸,在噶玛平措曾学习过的佛教绘画传统中,这个等级尊贵的区域通常留给各种根本佛。他的两侧是最近自 焚的13位自焚者的面孔,两角各有一个站立着的正在焚烧的人像。在画面底部,借鉴“文革”时期“社会主义现实主义”宣传画的风格,绘制了一大群士兵和工 人,手持枪支和毛泽东的“红宝书”。自焚事件证明几十年宣传、许诺的社会主义美好未来并没有兑现。噶玛平措断言,“对于博巴而言,图伯特依然停留在 1960年代,”【2】他形象化地将几代人遭受的苦难联系到一起。噶玛平措(1952年出生于拉萨)目前居住在澳大利亚。


平措茨仁(Phuntsok Tsering), 《为了公理》(For Righteousness),作于 2011年。 材质:水墨纸本。经作者允许使用。
旅居德国的图伯特书法家平措茨仁(Phuntsok Tsering,1976年出生于图伯特)绘制了一幅《为了公理》(Righteousness)。翻滚升腾的火焰和烟雾形成了几个博伊(藏文)字母写的 是:“权利的终结”(thob thang chad)。平措用一种特殊的传统字母做成一枚红色印章,上面写着“自治(rang dbang)[1]。平措茨仁在为这幅画作题写的诗中写道:“《为了公理》:献给我的图伯特同胞,他们为了一个民族的公理、文化和宗教信仰,而以身浴火。 2011年10月28日”

丹增热珠(Tenzing Rigdol),《格尔底——来自剧痛的灰烬》(Kirti – From the Ashes of Agony),作于2011年。材质:布面丙烯。尺寸:79 x 208 ¼ 英寸。
2011年发生的与格尔底寺(Kirti,即格尔登寺)有关的“令人绝望的”12起自焚事件,让丹增热珠(Tenzing Rigdol,1982年生于加德满都)忧心如焚,就此他构思了一幅壁画尺寸的黑白画作《格尔底——来自剧痛的灰烬》(Kirti – From the Ashes of Agony)。【3】画面左侧是一位合掌祷告的佛陀(或僧人)正在燃烧,他的头部有一个金刚杵(dorje)尾部形状的光环,这个形状在佛教仪轨中象征着 坚不可摧。画作的象征意义,包括画面中甘地的拐杖,赋予了自焚行为非暴力和坚定不移的精神与政治价值。丹增热珠目前住在纽约。


扎西诺布(Tashi Norbu),《自焚》(Self-Immolation)。尺寸:167x159 cm。材质:布面丙烯以及佛经和印度水墨。经作者同意使用。
扎西诺布(Tashi Norbu,1974年生于不丹)说,佛教传统上用火焰象征“人的内心所具备的能够驱除无名和恶业的智慧”。作品中描绘的种种成佛之路表达了作者的双重愿 望,其一,希望自焚者的牺牲能引领他们达到并实现“终极真实”(即佛教中的“胜义谛”或“胜义有”——译者);其二,希望能够将尘世间的压迫付之一炬。扎 西诺布现居荷兰。
阿旺觉登(Ngawang Jorden),《关于无私的冥想》(Contemplation of Selflessness),作于2012年。材质:布面丙烯和水墨。尺寸:30x40cm。经作者同意使用。
在阿旺觉登(Ngawang Jorden)的自画像中,观众能看出他的流亡地(波士顿)、他感同身受的“彻骨悲伤”,以及他对无私牺牲的自焚者的“勇气与决心”表示深深的崇敬。他身 后的墙上有一幅自焚者的照片。他已经矢志站在捍卫图伯特的立场上,不过画面上的蝴蝶则传达了更为微妙的信息。【4】

丹增晋美(Tenzin Jigme),《红与血》(Red and Blood)。作于2011年。材质:丙烯颜料。尺寸:25cm x 30cm。经作者同意使用。
“对于最近发生在图伯特的可怕事件”【5】的个人和感性的艺术回应还包括一些抽象作品,其中包括丹增晋美(Tenzin Jigme,1988年生于拉萨)的《红与雪》(Red and Blood)。这幅作品使用油彩纹理层叠的方式绘制而成,借以向“在正义缺失的世界里的压迫与被压迫者”【6】表述自己的观点。
索朗卓玛(Sonam Dolma,1953年生于图伯特)的《微墙》(The Small Wall)【7】是一件装置作品,这件作品用旧僧袍和白色的石膏“擦擦”组成。
“擦擦”是用她父亲留下的模型铸制的,而这些模型是她的家人在1959年翻越喜马拉雅山逃离图伯特时携带的唯一的传家之宝。【8】索朗卓玛现在瑞士生活、工作。
“疯蟹”,《紧急状况》。www.cartoonmovement.com
或许,我们可以把当前图伯特的局势——二三十起有报道的自焚事件和导致这些事件的原因——看做是对艺术创作的一种持续的影响,包括那些非图伯特艺术家。例如,一位笔名为“疯蟹”的中国艺术家创作的政治漫画,就批评了中共处理图伯特局势的政策,【9】他创作的“蟹农场”系列漫画在中国遭到查禁。

活跃在世界各地的图伯特艺术家们用视觉、音乐、【10】街头演出、电影和诗歌等方式唤起人们的文化自豪感并呼吁大家团结一致。【11】 或许我们今天目睹的一切,是一个将艺术作为批判手段的正在蓬勃兴起的泛图伯特运动(pan-Tibetan movement)。因为,作为批判和评论手段的艺术创作在图伯特境内正变得越来越危险,尤其当这些艺术创作涉及最近的自焚风潮时更是如此。最近,中国当 局关闭了一个艺术展【12】并且抓捕了一些诗人和文化倡导者。【13】自焚时代的(图伯特)艺术创作在世界范围会有什么样的前景?这还是一个未完的故事。

2012年3月25日

【注释】
[1] 这幅作品由图伯特画家Rigzin Namgyal和图伯特名字为Mis Ting Kha’e的汉族画家合作绘制。(原文如此,但是经查阅国内有关资料,这幅作品的作者是尼玛次仁——译者)

[2] Karma Phuntsok. Personal Communication, February 21, 2012.

[3]图片与作者陈述由伦敦Rossi + Rossi画廊(这是一个著名的以收藏和经营东方,尤其是喜马拉雅地区艺术品为主的英国画廊,由罗西母子创办——译者)慷慨提供。

[4] Ngawang Jorden. Personal Communication and “Freedom of Art by Ngawang Jorden” Facebook page, February 22, 2012.

[5] Sonam Dolma. Personal communication, February 23, 2012.

[6] Tenzin Jigme. Personal Communication, March 3, 2013.

[7] 作品由作者于2012年2月安装在瑞士伯尔尼城市艺术馆。

[8] 见科琳娜厄尼,《关于索朗多玛》(About Sonam Dolma,2010)。http://www.sonam.net/docs/aboutSonamDolma.pdf

[9] “蟹农场”其他有关政治漫画可浏览网站:http://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/6049

[10] 在图伯特境内外,Hip hop都是一种宣泄博巴强烈的文化自豪感的手段,比如旅居欧洲的博巴Shapaley创作的那首平静而真诚的《图伯特制造》(Made in Tibet)(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwahj8_hhg&feature=related),以 及来自图伯特境内的Yudrug的《新一代》(New Generation),http://highpeakspureearth.com/2010/new-generation-hip-hop- music-video-from-amdo/

图伯特RAP歌手Shapaley用博盖(藏语)演唱并配有英文字幕的视频录像在YouTube网站上,四个月的点击量已经将近60000次。歌中唱 到,“兄弟们,姐妹们;我们不知道你能否听到我们的声音;但是,我们希望你能收到这些讯息……虽然我们相隔万里,但是我们的思绪一直伴你左右……我们不曾 把你忘怀,请你相信我们。我们不曾将你遗弃,我们在你身边……不要担心忧伤,好好保重自己……”

[11] 为了纪念自焚者,在美国、印度和墨西哥,博巴用戏剧性的街边表演进行抗议。自焚事件也提升了流亡博巴为了他们的祖国与和平而采取行动的决心,正在制作的一 些电影显然是受到了这些事件的推动与激发。图伯特诗人茨仁唯色(Tsering Woeser)的是个也被翻译成英文发表在“高原净土”网站。(http://highpeakspureearth.com/category /woeser/)

[12] 2011年10月16日,Kalnor在拉萨的Melong画廊举办《Jangshing》个人画展,刚刚开展几个小时便被警方关闭。见“自由亚洲电台” http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/closed-11042011135334.html?searchterm=None

[13] 2012年初,广受欢迎的作家岗吉•珠巴加(Gangkye Drubpa Kyab)和传统文化倡导者达瓦多吉(Dawa Dorje)遭到拘捕。见“自由亚洲电台”:http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/writer- 02182012161437.html
而异见作家茨仁唯色也遭到软禁。

唯色注:【1】rang dbang即藏文意为“自由”,而不应是“自治”。去信咨询了艺术家平措茨仁,回复说:“my red stamp says 'freedom' or 'free' (Rang wang)。”


The Work of Art in the Age of Self-Immolation 

Leigh Sangster, Maitripa College
Contemporary Tibetan arts have emerged in the past decade as a new cultural force asserting Tibetan identity and modernity both inside Tibet and in Tibetan communities internationally. Tibetan artists worldwide are beginning to critically respond to the self-immolations in Tibet but only works made in exile are visible at present; if such art is being created inside Tibet, it cannot safely be circulated or published.  Paintings by established and younger exile artists are pioneering depictions of personal and collective emotional, contemplative, and political states of mind at this intense moment in Tibet’s modern history.


Karma Phuntsok. Self Sacrifice in Tibet. 2011. Used by permission of the artist.
Karma Phuntsok’s Self Sacrifice in Tibet (2011) is a scathing critique, through mimicry, of the 1980s painting The Meeting of the General and the Monk in Kandze in 1936.[1]  In Karma Phuntsok’s version, the Chinese military general pontificates towards a vacated space in which a gasoline container hovers, a match and a lighter nearby. Centered in the top register’s flames, a hierarchical space reserved for primordial Buddhas in the Buddhist painting tradition in which Karma was trained, is the smiling face of Thupten Ngodup, the first Tibetan to self immolate (in India on 27 April 1998). He is flanked by the faces of thirteen recent self-immolators and in each corner is a burning standing figure. At the bottom register of the painting is a host of soldiers and workers hoisting guns and Mao’s Little Red Book, borrowed from Cultural Revolution-era Socialist Realism propaganda. The self-immolations evidence that the glorified Socialist future promised in decades of propaganda has failed to deliver. Karma Phuntsok claims, “Tibet is still the 1960s for Tibetans,”[2]  and he visually links successive generations’ sufferings. Karma Phuntsok (b. 1952, Lhasa) lives in Australia.
Phuntsok Tsering. For Righteousness. 2011. Ink on paper. Used by permission of the artist.
Phuntsok Tsering (b.1976, Tibet), a Tibetan calligrapher living in Germany, penned Righteousness. The Tibetan letters, formed from billowing flame and smoke, read “the cessation of rights” (thob thang chad). Phuntsok used a special traditional script for a red stamp that says “autonomy” (rang dbang). Phuntsok Tsering’s dedication poem reads, “Righteousness;/ Dedicated to my fellow Tibetans,/ who have been self immolated,/ for the righteousness of a nation, /its culture, / its religious faith, / 28th October 2011.”
Tenzing Rigdol. Kirti-From the Ashes of Agony. 2011. Acrylic on canvas. 79 x 208 ¼ in. Rossi + Rossi.
Tenzing Rigdol (b.1982, Kathmandu) was “deeply disturbed” by the “desperate events” of the twelve self-immolations in 2011 connected to Kirti monastery, when he conceived the mural-size black and white painting Kirti – From the Ashes of Agony.[3]  The burning Buddha/monk in prayer on the left has a halo in the shape of the end of a dorje, or vajra, the ritual implement symbolic of indestructibility. The painting’s symbolism, including Gandhi’s staff, assigns spiritual and political values of non-violence and determined perseverance to the acts of self-immolation. Tenzin Rigdol currently lives in New York City.
Tashi Norbu. Self-Immolation. 167x159 cm.  Acrylic, Scriptures, Indian ink on canvas. Used by permission of the artist.
Buddhism is also visible in the traditional use of flames to symbolize “the wisdom contained within [that] can burn away ignorance and error,” according to Tashi Norbu (b. 1974, Bhutan). The works’ several references to the Buddhist path seems to express the dual hope that the self-immolators’ sacrifice will lead to their religious realization of ultimate reality, and also ‘burn away’ the conventional reality of oppression. Tashi Norbu lives in Netherlands.
Ngawang Jorden. Contemplation of Selflessness. 2012. Acrylic and ink on canvas. 30x40cm. Used by permission of the artist
Ngawang Jorden’s self-portrait conveys his exile location (Boston) and the simultaneous feelings of being “saddened to the core,” and deeply respecting the “courage and determination” of the “selfless sacrifice” made by self-immolators like the one in the picture behind him. He has renewed resolve to “take a stand” for Tibet, but the butterflies convey a delicate state.[4]

Tenzin Jigme, Red & Blood. 2011. Acrylic. 25cm x 30cm. Used by permission of the artist.
Sonam Dolma, the Small Wall. 2012. Monastic robes, plaster. Installation view at The City Gallery, Bern, Switzerland. Used by permission of the artist.

Personal and emotional artistic “response to the terrible recent events in Tibet”[5]  includes abstract works as well. Tenzin Jigme’s (b. 1988, Lhasa) textured layering of paint in Red and Blood speaks to “the oppressed and the oppressor in a world devoid of justice.”[6]  Sonam Dolma’s (b.1953, Tibet) The Small Wall [7]  is an installation of secondhand monastic robes from Lhasa and white plaster tsha tsha she cast from her father’s mold, one of the only heirlooms the family carried with them over the Himalayas into exile in 1959.[8]  Sonam Dolma lives and works in Switzerland.
Crazy Crab, Emergency Only. www.cartoonmovement.com
We may expect to see the impact of the current situation in Tibet – of the more than two dozen reported cases of self-immolation and the conditions in which they arise – as a continuing influence in the arts, including amongst non-Tibetans. For example, political cartoons by a Chinese artist under the pen name Crazy Crab, whose Hexie Farms series is banned in China, criticize the CCP over the situation in Tibet.[9]  Tibetan artists working internationally in visual forms, music,[10]  street theater, film, and poetry emphasize cultural pride and unity.[11]  Perhaps what we are witnessing today is a vitalizing pan-Tibetan movement through art as a form of critique.  And yet, despite, or perhaps because of the circulation of these artistic works on the Internet, this is hardly a moment for the celebration of a global Tibetan art movement.  For art as critique and commentary, especially when it addresses the recent wave of self-immolations, is increasingly dangerous inside Tibet, where in recent months authorities have closed an art exhibition,[12]  and detained poets and culture advocates.[13]  The global future of the work of art in the age of self-immolation is a story that can not yet be fully told.
25 March 2012
NOTES
[1] A collaboration in 1980 between Tibetan painter Rigzin Namgyal and Han painter whose name is Tibetanized as Mis Ting Kha’e in Kvaerne, P. “The Ideological Impact on Tibetan Art,” Resistance and Reform in Tibet, ed. R. Barnett and S. Akiner. London: C.Hurst & co., 1994. Also discussed in Harris, C. In the Image of Tibet: Tibetan Painting after 1959. London: Reaktion Books, 1999.
[2] Karma Phuntsok. Personal Communication, February 21, 2012.
[3] Image and artist statement courtesy of Rossi + Rossi, London.
[4] Ngawang Jorden. Personal Communication and “Freedom of Art by Ngawang Jorden” Facebook page, February 22, 2012.
[5] Sonam Dolma. Personal communication, February 23, 2012. 
[6] Tenzin Jigme. Personal Communication, March 3, 2013.
[7]  “The small wall” was installed by the artist in The City Gallery, Berne, Switzerland, February, 2012.
[8] Corinne Erni. “About Sonam Dolma,” 2010. http://www.sonam.net/docs/aboutSonamDolma.pdf
[9] See also Hexie Farms’ The Politburo Standing Committee on Fire, Propaganda, Buddha’s Tear, Free Tibet, Untitled (Harmonious Tibet) at http://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/6049
[10] Hip hop is an outlet for a defiant cultural pride both inside Tibet and in the diaspora, as in the cool and heartfelt European-Tibetan Shapaley’s “Made in Tibet,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwahj8_hhg&feature=related, and from inside Tibet, “New Generation” by Yudrug.  http://highpeakspureearth.com/2010/new-generation-hip-hop-music-video-from-amdo/ The music video by the Tibetan rapper Shapaley, sung in Tibetan and subtitled in English on YouTube has had close to 60,000 views in four months and includes the lyrics, “Brothers and Sisters, we don’t know if you can hear us but we hope you’ll receive this message…Although we’re far away from you, our thoughts are with you. …We haven’t forgotten you, you can trust us. We haven’t forsaken you, we’re at your side…so don’t worry, take care of yourselves…”
[11] Protests have included dramatic street theater performance by Tibetans in the USA, India, and Mexico in commemoration of the self-immolators. Films in production appear to be gaining traction, apparently spurred by the self-immolations’ heightening of the determination of exiles to act on behalf of their homeland and for peace. Poems by Tsering Woeser, the de facto national poet of Tibet, are published in translation at http://highpeakspureearth.com/category/woeser/
[12] “Jangshing,” a solo exhibition by Kalnor at Melong gallery in Lhasa was closed by police within hours of opening, October 16, 2011. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/closed-11042011135334.html?searchterm=None
[13] The popular writer Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, and traditional culture promoter Dawa Dorje were detained in early 2012, http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/writer-02182012161437.html and dissident author Tsering Woeser has been placed under house arrest.

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