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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

10 September 2018

Remember Gepey, March 10 2012

For Gepey, a 18 yrs old monk from Kirti Monastery, who self immolated on March 10 2012 in Ngaba, Amdo, Tibet.

Gepey set himself ablaze in the late afternoon near the first military base set up by the People's Liberation Army upon arriving in the area in 1950, which is 1.5 km away from Kirti monastery.

Soldiers took Gepey's body into the base, and some local Tibetans confronted them, seeking the return of the body to his family.
Officials did give Gepey's body back to the Tibetans, but also specified that Gepey should be cremated the same day and in the presence of no more than five relatives, disrespecting the customary funeral rights of Tibetans.

Tibetans believe it is important to carry out prayer rituals after death in order to ensure a peaceful transition for the person in to their next life. In Tibetan culture, for this reason, the body of a person who has died should be disturbed as little as possible.

In case of Tibetans who have self immolated, many Tibetans believe that they were giving their lives as a form of dedication, or to be of benefit to others, and so it becomes even more important for the bodies to be returned for prayer ceremonies.

It is not known if Gepey deliverately chose this date to mark the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, and the forth anniversary of the protests beginning on March 10, 2008.

Captions from:
https://www.savetibet.org/kirti-monk-who-self-immolated-on-march-16-dies-in-custody-18-year-old-monk-dies-on-march-10-in-self-immolation-protest/