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Towards the last two months of my last visit to India in the spring of 2012, I encountered the Tibetan community in exile in India experiencing painful news of their people self-immolating in fire one after another in China-occupied Tibet. My experiences in the past visits in India (drawing a cremation site in Varanasi, documenting fire pits, cremation alters, and contemplating on life and death around fire) synchronized with this particular movement, an extreme way of ‘offering’ their bodies to ‘fire’ for asking freedom and peace.I could not help drawing large and small drawings as emotional response and with a sense of mourning.

After coming back to Vancouver, the self-immolation kept happening and I felt that my personal and professional task is not finished.

I have come back to India to continue to document and draw under the same theme. tomoyoihaya@hotmail.com

8 March 2015

For Norchuk

For Norchuk, who self immolated in Trotusk, Ngaba, Amdo, Tibet on March 6 2015.
She is 40 years old and she has recently taken a vow not to eat any meat.  Those are only things that are known along with her portrait picture.
I gazed at her face, the face of the woman who is around my age.  What brought her to decide to do this extreme protest in her village.  What kind of life had she have?   
it is again in Ngaba, the green county, where one life has gone in flame.

 After sitting in front of the unfinished drawing for a while,  the last thing my mind did was to press finger prints with white ink around her face.  Pressing like offering butter lamps and prayers.  White to purify her pain.

 NOTE: After this post, the further information about her came into the exile side.  Actually she is 47 years old and has three children.
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