Photo Journal Monday: Rinchen Ato
Images and text by Rinchen Ato
Photo Edited by Yanting Chen
The Monastery is a selection of images captured across nearly two decades of visits to my father’s homeland and part of a wider project, Kham. Nezang Monastery is perched on the side of a mountain overlooking the village of Thokar, in Kham, Eastern Tibet. This work gives a rare glimpse into a precious community, exploring a fast evolving culture, through a narrative of home and heritage. A society often depicted as foreign or ‘other’ is presented here by one to whom it is familiar.
Tibetan monasteries played, and still do play, an important role within the community. Until 1959 monastic life was the only access to education and, in a country in which there were neither hospitals, undertakers nor a public health care service, these responsibilities fell to the monasteries. The relationship between monastery and laity was by no means restricted to times of stress and sorrow; the Tibetan calendar is filled with religious festivals and happy celebrations.