PRESS RELEASE : 7 June 2002
SPITI: The Forbidden Valley.
13 July - 13 Sept 2002
Public Space Galleries: mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH.
Open daily 9am - 11pm. Admission Free
mac presents Patrick Sutherland's acclaimed black and white photographs of one the last remnants of traditional Tibetan society.
SPITI is a remote community only recently opened to outsiders after being closed for many decades, but which has recently been opened up to tourism and development.
Culturally part of Tibet, but lying outside the Tibetan border in the far Northwest corner of Himachal Pradesh (India). Spiti is cut off by high snowbound passes for most of the year and was completely isolated from the outside world for several decades: following the Sino-Indian border wars of the 60's the valley became a military zone, part of India's Inner light and all outsiders were forbidden entry.
The valley is a barren and treeless high altitude desert and one of the highest and bleakest inhabited places on earth. The society (total population c.10,000) consists of small isolated villages rising up to 14.000 ft above sea level. Villagers cultivate terraces irrigated by melt water from glaciers and tend yak, goats and sheep. Still dominated by Tibetan Buddhism and its monasteries, life is beginning to change as western clothing, modern consumer goods, Hindi state education and entrepreneurism collide with culture of monastic rituals, traditional healers and subsistence agriculture. Now Villagers who live in mud houses, plough their barley fields with yaks and cook on burning dung now come home to watch Hindi films on television.
Patrick Sutherland's photographs have been published by Network with an introduction by Tibetan film director Tenzing Sonam and dedication by Cartier Bresson.
Ends
For further info please contact:
John Godbold on 0121 440 4221 ext 218
Email : john.godbold@mac-birmingham.org.uk o
Venue Details: mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B12 9QH.
Information/ Box Office: 0121 440 3838
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