Talk Back: Tibetan Comics Workshop
This Lhakar, I’m working on putting together a Comic Book Workshop at the Rubin Museum with other Tibetan students from Columbia. We’re all part of a group called Plateau Engage – essentially, we’re interested in organizing events in and around our school to generate discussions on…you guessed it: Tibet.
Why a Comic Book workshop? Well, did you know that Tibet has played a key role in Western pop literature since the 1930s?! The first paperback ever (Lost Horizon by James Hilton) is situated in Tibet. And many of the earliest comic books were inspired by his concoction of “Shangri-La.” As a result, you have Donald Duck in Tibet, Mickey Mouse in Tibet, Tintin in Tibet, Nazis in Tibet and the list goes on and on.
Yet, these were all made by Westerners and of course, portrayed Tibet inaccurately. The Comic Book workshop is our attempt at having a Tibetan narrative produced by Tibetans, reflecting all of our diverse experiences – ones that cannot be encapsulated by stories of monks or demons. We’ve seen how influential comics like Persepolis have been for educating millions about Iran (both through the comic and the movie remake), so it’s time we had our own version!
The Wall Street Journal came out today with an article about the exhibition that inspired this workshop. At the end of the exhibition, you’ll find our workshop is mentioned.
The (free) workshop is open to all Tibetans and will begin on February 11th and will be four sessions covering:
- Comics on Tibet, including those on display at the Rubin Museum’s Hero, Villain, Yeti exhibit
- Story-telling through comics
- Re-writing of Western comics about Tibet
- Discussions and readings on Western and Chinese portrayals of Tibet
You don’t need to know how to draw or have any experience with storytelling! Just curiosity and courage!
Applications will be available through the Plateau Engage website (which will be launched by the end of the week). In the meantime, you can “like” us on Facebook.
As well, check out the interactive website for the Rubin exhibition!
Great! During the 15. International Comic Salon in Erlangen/Germany June 2012 there will be workshops, masterclasses and exhibitions about Comics of the Arabian Spring and I really dreamed about tibetan Comics of that kind! You will draw them! All the Best!
Thank you lesbarkeit! Wish we could be at the comic salon in Germany. Best wishes.
This is really an interesting work. I remember reading number of Tibet related comic books when I was younger. One book that comes to my mind is the book on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And I can still remember what His Holiness says at the end of the book, when someone ask if Tibet will die. He answers, Tibet will never die, a thousand times not. Because Tibet lives in us or something like that. I will have to visit the museum to read it again.
If you want further Informations about the comic salon, contact me on my private email. It´s not to late to join this. But ist´s far away, I know… See also http://www.comic-salon.de
Do any Lakhar Diaries contributors or SFT members have comic books written in Tibetan? I’ve seen instructional comics published in India written in Tibetan, but I’m looking for comics both written and drawn by Tibetans (ideally dealing with daily life or folklore). I’m a contributing/consulting editor for the ejournal WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS, which does an annual February issue of graphic literature, and I’ve been looking for Tibetan material for a while.
I would really appreciate any leads you might be able to provide.
Since you’re doing a comic book workshop, perhaps you will have some Tibetan cartoonists turn up?
Cheers,
HIF
Hi Heinz, there are a few Tibetan comic artists who are already doing good work. Please post your contact information (e-mail or otherwise) and we’ll send on to them.
Hi, I was in Dharamsala for Losar, and I’m trying to put together a graphic novel of oral histories with a thangka painter friend doing the illustrations. Is there someone I can talk to about comic book writing? I’m not Tibetan.