A future in exile

>> >> Montreal photographer brings back pictures and stories from Tibetan refugee camps in India

by RINA CALABRESE

Tibetan culture is alive and thriving--only not in Tibet.

After 50 years of Chinese occupation, a steady exodus of Tibetans and an influx of Chinese, Tibet's culture seems in danger of quietly slipping away.

But the Tibetan refugee camps in India tell a different story. There, roughly 100,000 exiled Tibetans have nurtured their culture, reconstructed their monasteries and established cultural institutions.

These refugee camps are the focus of Martin Beaulieu's latest photo exhibit, Tibetan Children: A Future in Exile, now on display until June 30 at Café Rico (969 Rachel E.). Last fall, the Montreal photographer spent three months documenting Tibetan refugees in nine of India's 35 camps. "I wanted to capture how the culture and religion was conveyed across the four generations," explains Beaulieu. Of these four generations, he says, the last two have known Tibetan culture in exile only.

In India, Beaulieu found a close-knit Tibetan community steadfastly guarding their traditions through music, literature, folktales, dance and sacred thanka paintings. By contrast, in Tibet it is forbidden to display a picture of the Dalai Lama.

"What's happening in Tibet is cultural genocide," says Beaulieu. "It's just going to get more diluted with each succeeding generation and with the increasing Chinese population." There are currently 7.5-million Chinese living in Tibet and six-million Tibetans, effectively rendering them a minority in their own country, he says.

Beaulieu also produced a 12-page booklet of statistics and children's accounts of their experiences under repressive Chinese rule.

In 1949, China invaded Tibet under a spurious claim that Tibet historically belonged to the Chinese. The Dalai Lama, then just 15 years old, remained as spiritual leader, increasingly becoming a prisoner in the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Ten years later, after an uprising by the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama fled across the Himalayas to India, where he remains in exile.

Since then, 6,000 monasteries have been razed in Tibet, and over one-million Tibetans have left the country due to repression and abuse, some human rights groups report.

Beauty and oppression

Through his photo exhibits, Beaulieu hopes to highlight that the situation in Tibet is not just a question of religion. In a 1999 photo exhibit, Travels in Tibet: A Glimpse Beyond, he juxtaposed the beauty of Tibet and its people with stories of oppression gathered by Amnesty International.

In his new series of 12 photos, Beaulieu levels his lens at the children of Tibet. A black and white photo of a group of Tibetan schoolchildren perhaps encapsulates the spirit of the Tibetan people best. Written on the schoolchildren's blackboard is a saying: "Where there is a will, there is a way."

Another photo reveals the stark condition of a camp orphanage. A woman feeds a three-month-old orphan, while two older orphans nap in a crib nearby. At the far left-hand corner, a poster of Brad Pitt's Seven Years in Tibet is pasted to the wall. The presence of Hollywood in this remote refugee camp seems incongruous.

But films like Pitt's are useful because they help to raise awareness among young people, says Thubten Samdup, president of the National Office of the Canada Tibet Committee in Montreal. In recent years, big-name celebrities have thrown their support behind Tibet, in a way glamourizing the cause. Beaulieu fears that Tibet will become a fashion trend.

"People often tell met that Tibet is fashionable, that people talk about it because it's 'in.' But the violation of human rights should never be trendy," he says. Samdup admires people like Beaulieu who travel to Tibet and are moved to do something. "That's what keeps people like us going," he says, "knowing that there are at least some people who care. That means a great deal to us."

Samdup says that shows like Beaulieu's always generate calls to the CTC office from people seeking more information and anxious to help. "I don't think that this exhibit will wake everyone up," says Beaulieu. "But Ghandi once said that there are activities in life that we accomplish that seem useless but we have no choice but to do them. That's how I feel--like I have no choice." :

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