Gonkar gyatso biography sampler

Biography

Born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1961. He is trained in traditional Chinese calligraphy and landscape in China, before returning to his homeland to become a leading artist and spokesperson for contemporary artists in Tibet's capital, Lhasa. In 1996 Gyatso moved to London where he lives still in voluntary exile.
He grew up in an environment of Maoist ideology and imagery - his father was a soldier in the People's Liberation Army, and his mother a clerk in a government office. He says: "Everything in our home was Chinese and the entire family adhered to Party guidelines." Gyatso first began to question the Chinese authorities' dominance of Tibet when he visited a rural area on an official mission and was dismayed by the poverty among his fellow Tibetans as a result of government policies that demanded that Tibetan farmers donate their crop yield to the Chinese authorities. Gyatso studied in Beijing and later in Lhasa, and became more aware of the distin Gonkar gyatso biography sampler list.