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December
2003
We
don't need a whole lot and we have gone to our limit before asking,
but we need help to keep this up and running. We are not looking
to go overboard and when we have enough, we will let you know and
put a hold on asking for money as this is not the main goal of the
Tibetan Photo Project. We are asking because we need it to get through
the next few months. If you have questions, drop us an e-mail at tibetanphoto@gmail.com We would like
to start of by wishing everyone Happy Holidays. Thanks to all of
you for your visits to
http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com over the past year.
Also,
thanks for introducing friends to the project and for passing along
this newsletter.
One of the goals the project makes possible is how it creates a
vehicle that gives media a reason to tell the Tibetan story. As
the collection of the first photos taken by Tibetan monks living
in exile continues to grows, the project is being recognized by
art and culture editors and reporters.
To
date, we are aware of over 60 articles in newspapers and magazines.
Additional photo credits for the project as stand-alone photos have
also taken the project international, including the November issue
of Integral from Spain.
The
Tibetan Photo Project has also been the subject of several articles
and features on the Internet where information is published from
several places around the world. One of the latest can be found
from Steven Niven who produces http://www.getsul.co.uk/ Be sure to check it out.
As
we prepare this news letter we have received notice that we have
just been linked by the School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London.
Our
friend and a very good Tibetan photographer, Tenzin Wangden Andrugtsang,
has been studying Web design in Dharamsala and has produced a very
unique and educational site at http://www.angelfire.com/dragon2/4river6ranges
To
borrow from Wangden's opening on why the site was created; "It is
known to almost all Tibetans young and old about Andrug Gonpo Tashi's
selfless sacrifice and dedication to Tibet. From the day he decided
to resist the Chinese occupation, he had put aside all other responsibilities,
be it for his family or anything else. His sole aim now was to protect
Tibet's Independence and the Rights of the Tibetan people."
Wangden's
effort preserves a very important part of Tibet's history, which
is likely to be eliminated from China's official version of the
"peaceful liberation of Tibet," that killed 1.2 million
Tibetans and imprisons thousands today.
Wangden
is a second-generation Tibetan living with his family in exile.
He is a former secretary in the Office of the Dalai Lama and Andrug
Gonpo Tashi is his grandfather. Please give the site a read.
December
Presentations We will be sticking close to home in Northern
California in December, but, we have two slide show presentations
planned. We will show new photos at the Mendocino Art Center on
Sunday, Dec. 14, at 1:30 in the afternoon in the Nichols Gallery
and the premier presentation will be given at the Greenwood Community
Church in Elk during the evening on Dec. 17, at 6:30 p.m.
We
had a great series of presentations this past fall in Colorado Springs
at Colorado College, UCCS, The Business of Art Center in Manitou
Springs and at All Souls Unitarian Church. Again the local press
was very generous with publications and distribution of information
on Tibet in the hundreds of thousands of copies between the combined
circulation of The Independent, the Gazette, Slice, Go! Scribe and
Catalyst newspapers. The local NPR station also provided terrific
coverage. The shows would not have been possible without the efforts
of Sheri Morse.
To
highlight year for the project: It was linked by Harvard University's
Asia Center for the Dalai Lama's visit to the university in September.
A project photo was used by the International Campaign For Tibet
for the visit to Germany by His Holiness. Following an invitation
to make the second round of presentations at Colorado College, the
project will be featured in and article by Anne Christiansen the
December issue of the College Alumni Magazine.
Publications,
calendars and events are lining up for next year and as those are
published or confirmed, we will keep you posted.
The
Website gets visitors from around the globe and we are proud to
say that the Tibetan Photo Project is regularly visited from inside
the People's Republic of China.
We are always looking for new venues and the means to bring the
slide show presentation to your community. If you have any leads,
know of any venues or can provide any resources to make that possible
we would like to hear your ideas. The slide show presentations give
the press an opportunity to tell the story.
We
are still working to develop a series of prints that will create
gallery and museum shows that will also create a vehicle for press
coverage for the Tibetans. This is a slow and expensive process.
If you can help, contact us by e-mail at tibetanphoto@gmail.com
Once
again, we wish you all peaceful, safe and happy holidays. Thank
You and Tashi Delek!
November 2003
The Tibetan Photo Project in Colorado Springs
In October, we completed a 5-date/5-venue slide show schedule of
the Tibetan Photo Project in Colorado Springs. The venues were donated
and sponsored by the Business of Art Center, Colorado College, UCCS
and All Souls Unitarian Church.
We
had been in Colorado Springs in March. Turnouts for the October
presentations showed an increase in attendance. A goal of the presentations
and gallery shows is to create a vehicle that attracts media coverage
that will tell the Tibetan story and raise awareness.
The
coverage in Colorado Springs included a full-page color article
through the Gazette newspaper in their weekly Slice insert (Circulation
70,000). The project also received press coverage in the Independent,
Springs Magazine, Pikes Peak Bulletin. Catalyst - Colorado College
Student Newspaper, GO! and a full page 1 feature in Scribe, the
student newspaper for UCCS. A very favorable review in Scribe also
followed the UCCS presentation. KRCC radio also ran several PSAs.
Wrapping up the Colorado Springs presentations, Colorado College
conducted an interview and will produce a full color feature in
their Alumni magazine that will be sent to 30,000.
What
they said:
"The photos give Tibetan culture a human face. Unlike the overly-reverent,
preconceived images taken by Western photographers, they give an
insiders view of a 2,000 year old culture." -The Slice-Colorado
Springs
"Audiences
leave seeing China's treatment of Tibet as a microcosm of how the
communist country deals with the world." -The Slice-Colorado
Springs
"Tibetan Photo Project is a magic view into a world no Westerner
has seen. These unique photographs were created by Tibetan Monks
themselves and give voice to their story and culture." - Springs
Magazine -Colorado Springs
"The gift of rare glimpses into the lives of some of the 2,500
monks of the Drepung Monastery."- The Catalyst Colorado College
Student Newspaper
"Insightful...touching images" - GO!
"Wonderful images of the Tibetan people"- Scribe.
We are very proud to announce the addition of "Refugee in India,"
The Photos of Lobsang Sang Topgyal In October of 2003, the Tibetan
Photo Project received its first e-mail from Lobsang Sang Topgyal.
Lobsang has been documenting the lives of Tibetans. We are showing
some of his photos and have included some of his e-mail excerpts
as we received them without edits or corrections to language or
spelling.
September
and October 2003
Media
coverage notes, Sept. and Oct. One of the main goals of the Tibetan
Photo Project is to create a vehicle that creates a new voice for
the Tibetans and broadens awareness. The slide show presentations
have been successful in attracting the interest of new avenues in
the press and this has allowed TibetÕs story to be told in new media.
Colorado
Springs has a population of half million and we have had great cooperation
from many retail stores, markets and on campus at five college location
to place 1,000 posters and by the first presentation we will have
distributed between 10,000 and 15,000 handbills which will broaden
awareness. Again it is good friends that make these numbers of promotional
material available at zero or low cost.
For
the Colorado Springs presentations, The Scribe devoted page 1 of
their Sept. 24 issue to the Tibetan Photo project, two and a half
weeks before the first presentation. The Scribe is the weekly paper
for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the front
page feature was written by student reporter Sarah Melchior. Distribution
is 2000 copies on campus.
Harvard
University Asia Center continued to link the project to announcements
for special events and presentations into mid October in honor of
the Dalai Lama's Sept. 12 speech.
The
Fort Bragg Advocate ran "Save Tibet. Why?" as a Community
Forum in Sept.
June
2003
Published
June 12, 2003, Fort Bragg Advocate-News
The Tibetan Photo Project started during the 2000 Mendocino Music
Festival when Joe Mickey, a professional photographer, teacher and
the sports editor for the Advocate, was introduced to a sponsorship
program for monks living in exile in southern India. Mickey sent
a disposable camera and was provided a glimpse into the everyday
lives of the monks. This was the first time the monks had used photography
in their efforts to preserve their culture which has been systematically
destroyed by the Chinese over the last 54 years. Almost immediately,
Celebrity Sazzy Lee Varga offered to build and support a Website
and the Tibetan Photo Project was introduced to the potential of
a world wide audience. By June 6, Varga's Web experience had the
project listed as the top site to appear in a Google search for
"Tibet photos." The search yields 230,000 potential sites
according to Google. The project has received two letters of support
from the Tibetan government in exile and the Office of the Dalai
Lama. Mickey had been giving North Coast standing room only presentations
of a slide show version of the
Tibetan Photo Project. In January he was invited by Ginger Morgan
at Colorado College in Colorado Springs to give a series of presentations
on the project in March. In a city of half a million people, the
project received significant press in the areaÕs major papers, including
a feature article by Mark Arnest, art critic for the Gazette, and
a feature by Noel Black, art editor for the Colorado Springs Independent.
The entertainment magazine, 'Springs', also told portions of the
Tibetan tragedy suffered under Chinese control. "Every time
it appears in print that out of a population of six million, 1.2
million Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese government and
that only 13 of 6,000 monasteries are left standing, the project
is filling its main purpose to get the story told in areas of the
media where it would usually not be talked or written about."
Mickey feels this is important not only for the survival of the
Tibetan culture, but as China is rising on the world stage as both
an economic and military force, it is important for Americans to
understand the nature of the Chinese government. "Hu Jintao,
made his political reputation as the Party Secretary of Tibet, the
perspective provided by the Tibetans experience with Jintao becomes
very relevant," Mickey says, noting that Jintao implemented
martial law and a brutal crackdown on the Tibetans in 1989. Mickey
notes that by looking at the Chinese leadership through the experience
of the Tibetans he is not surprised by the effort China made to
under-report the SARS outbreak in order to try and protect their
tourist trade . During the war in Iraq, CNN reported that the Chinese
were active in trying to hack US military and government computers.
It has also been noted that China has sold the mechanisms to disperse
chemical agents to Iraq. "Through its exports, foreign investment
and the tourist trade, China has been growing its economy at around
8 percent per year. It has been growing its military by as much
as 17 percent," Mickey said.
Media
building blocks The first media to pick up on the project included the Mendocino
Beacon, the Fort Bragg Advocate-News, the Lake County Record-Bee,
the Ukiah Daily Journal and The Willits News. San Francisco Chronicle
Art Critic Kenneth Baker gave the project three inches and a small
color photo, resulting in 1,000 hits on the Website and the donation
from Katrina Smaters of Los Altos of about 40 original black and
white negatives from a 1932 mountaineering expedition into Tibet.
The trek inspired a book, "Men Against the Clouds," a
classic account of pioneering American climbers and early reports
of a mountain higher than Everest. On a national level, Art & Antiques
was the next publication to pick up on the story and several regional
publications also published information, including a cutting edge
art and culture magazine, Head, in Santa Barbara, and, Aquarius,
out of Atlanta, Ga. Aquarius will run its third major feature when
the photos form the 1930s will be featured in a fall center spread.
The new age tabloid has a circulation of 50,000. The next major
development for the project came when Parade magazine introduced
16 million readers to the project with a 3-inch story that resulted
in nearly 40,000 hits to the Website. In February, Patricia Lawrence
of Caspar, who produces Travel Radio for an audience of 11 million
listeners on National Public Radio, invited Mickey to be interviewed
for the half hour show.
Momentum
keeps growing Mickey returned from Colorado Springs to a shipment of 50 cameras
from Kodak that were generated from a letter by Erlene Gleisner
seeking support for the project and sent to the CEO of Kodak, Daniel
Carp. "When you consider the level at Kodak where this contribution
was generated," says Mickey, "this is an extremely significant
donation and we are not yet a nonprofit so there is no write-off
here for Kodak." The momentum of the photographic industry
taking note of the project has moved up another notch. Mickey received
an e-mail from Mason Resnick, the managing editor of Popular Photography,
he wrote an article on the project that appears in the June issue.
Popular Photography is the largest consumer magazine on photography.
The Coast Observer in Gualala gave the project a page for a slide
presentation at the art center. Through May, international interest
has increased with press packet requests from several magazines
including Conscious Living in Australia, Photo Life in Canada and
Amateur Photography in England. On the Web a Buddhist Webzine based
in Canada and a photography Webzine in Argentina have requested
material for publication. Mickey's photo of the Dalai Lama has was
chosen for an announcement of the Dalai Lama's visit to Germany.
The California Institute of Integral Studies requested a photo to
announce a September conference on "Wisdom and Action."
Keeping up While the project is blossoming on its own, Mickey says it is
also out pacing him. "The images from the 1930s and the new
images by the monks need to be printed for museum and gallery showings.
Those costs are significant. And not to look a gift horse in the
mouth, shipping the 50 cameras from Kodak to India and processing
50 rolls of film will take a long time given the costs."
China
is growing in influence on the world stage. For several years it
has been increasing its military spending at a rate that is over
twice the growth rate of its economy. The next leader in China is
likely to be Hu Jintao. His political rise, is due in large part
to his implementing and maintaining of a brutal hard-line policy
during his term overseeing China's control of Tibet.
There
are many wonderful works that look at Tibet from the outside. The
Tibetan Photo Project is designed to provide a voice to the Tibetans
by exhibiting their views through their own works of photography.
Their vantage point on China and their experiences in Tibet and
in exile are extremely relevant to anyone trying to understand the
geopolitical, military and economic designs of China in the future.
The intent is to provide a view through the eyes of the Tibetan
community, create a vehicle that provides an elementary introduction
and links you to further study and understanding while giving a
personal voice to the Tibetans that participate in this project.
Because of its unique perspective, the project which began in 2000,
is also catching the eye of the art world with write ups by art
columnist Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle (Feb. 5,
2002), the June 2002 edition of Art & Antiques Magazine and the
Santa Barbara art and culture magazine, Head.
Please
feel free to contact us about a slide show presentation and gallery
exhibitions and prints. Thank you for stopping by the Tibetan Photo
Project. We hope you will return often, tell your friends and please
be sure to explore the links.
Please
add our banner to your site and Help Save Tibet
All
images are Copyright 2001-2008, Joe Mickey and the Tibetan Photo Project
and may not be published without permission. While you may print the
material on this site for easy reading or sharing with friends: For
feature articles,publication or public use of any of the material
or images contained on this site please contact Joe Mickey via e-mail
attibetanphoto@gmail.comand please reference your e-mail to the Tibetan Photo Project.
Thank You.
All
images are Copyright 2000-2020, Joe Mickey, Sazzy Varga and the Tibetan Photo
Project and may not be published without permission. While you
may print the material on this site for easy reading or sharing
with friends. For feature articles, publication or public use
of any of the material or images contained on this site please
contact via e-mail at tibetanphoto@gmail.com and please reference your e-mail to the
Tibetan Photo Project. Thank You.
**We have recently incorporated and are filing for Non Profit Status as: Camera's for Culture Inc. The Tibetan Photo Project will operate under this umbrella. We will let you know as soon as donations are tax deductible. **
