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  • HONORING
    THE
    LOCALS

the team working in Tubchen monastery

The locals are the people of Mustang, in this case they are the people of Lomanthang. Almost. There are people from Chhoser as well. There are people from
Pokhara. They all share the same faith. They all want to safeguard their culture and their heritage. They don't want museums, they want living temples.

If you want to save our culture you need to save the monasteries because everything here spins around religion
Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista (1930-2016) – last king of Mustang

Most of them were and still are farmers. First they became restorers, then painters. Yet they are farmers. And they are all proud of both the lives they were
offered to live. We lost some on the way: there is who opened a guest house, who opened a shop, who moved in a foreign country and who decided to take
care of their family. And some opened small art galleries in Lomanthang.

 
This page is a way for me to pay homage and respect to all those wonderful people who have been involved in the project: the ones still in and the ones out.
All of them gave their best and contributed to reach the stage we are in right now.

 
Thank you, dear friends.

the artists behind the project

THE ONES IN AND THE ONES OUT
ALL
*
CO-LEADERS
3
PAINTERS
11
THE
CORE
27
MASONS
6
ELECTRICIANS
2
Portrait of Dawa

DAWA
Portrait of Tashi Doka

TASHI DOKA
Portrait of Indra

INDRA
Portrait of Dolma Tsering

DOLMA TSERING
Portrait of Tashi Wangyel

TASHI WANGYEL
Portrait of Tashi

TASHI
Portrait of Karsang Choeten

KARSANG CHOETEN
Portrait of Pasang

PASANG
Portrait of Tashi Lhamo

TASHI LHAMO
Portrait of Wangyal

WANGYAL
Portrait of Pema Yangdo

PEMA YANGDO
Portrait of Ngawang

NGAWANG
Portrait of Tsering Dolma

TSERING DOLMA
Portrait of Tsetse

TSETSE
Portrait of Dhargyal

DHARGYAL
Portrait of Tsepten Toma

TSEPTEN TOMA
Portrait of Palden

PALDEN
Portrait of Tendar

TENDAR
Portrait of Tsering Wangmo

TSERING WANGMO
Portrait of Tenzing

TENZING
Portrait of Yandoka

YANDOKA
Portrait of Tashi

TASHI
Portrait of Tsering Wangmo

TSERING WANGMO
Portrait of Tsepten

TSEPTEN
Portrait of Dhoka

DHOKA
Portrait of Pasang Doka

PASANG DOKA
Portrait of Tashi Lhamo

TASHI LHAMO
Portrait of Phu Doma

PHU DOMA
Portrait of Karchung

KARCHUNG
Portrait of Dendup

DENDUP
Portrait of Tsetsi Wangmo

TSETSI WANGMO
Portrait of Angyal

ANGYAL
Portrait of Rinzing Wangmo

RINZING WANGMO
Portrait of Yangjing

YANGJING
Portrait of Lobsang

LOBSANG
Portrait of Tamding

TAMDING
Portrait of Tsewang Jigme

TSEWANG JIGME
Portrait of Chhimi

CHHIMI
Portrait of Sonam Tsering

SONAM TSERING
Portrait of Rindzing

RINDZING
Portrait of Dickyi

DICKYI
Portrait of Tsering Phuntsok

TSERING PHUNTSOK
Portrait of Kunga

KUNGA
Portrait of Dolma Tsering

DOLMA TSERING
Portrait of Karma

KARMA
Portrait of Tsering Wangmo

TSERING WANGMO
Portrait of Angyal

ANGYAL
Portrait of Pasang

PASANG
Portrait of Wangyal

WANGYAL
local people holding each other's hand

co-leaders

Jojo (Tsewang Jigme), Dawa and Indra are the co-leaders of the project. Indra looks after the management, the materials, the salaries, the bills, the team and
he's the fixer as well: if there is a problem, he'll find a way out. Jojo at the beginning, then Dawa when the former left the project, is the team leader when I'm
not on site. By envisioning self-sustainability we are trying to give the chance to prove they can work without foreigners and hopefully go on working in the
future by themselves.

thangka painters

When the reconstruction project started we hired two thangka painters to help us. We thought the local team would have gone faster and they could have
helped us training the locals in the skills of painting as well. Nonetheless they themselves had to be trained in the old style, nearly forgotten and barely taught
in the art schools of Tibetan art. Results were so brilliant that here we are today with a team of eight dedicated thangka painters helping us bringing life back
on the walls.

the main team

They are the core of the project. They have been trained in conservation first. Then thanks to The American Himalayan Foundation some of them received
thangka training sessions from Mukti Singh Thapa over five winters and they started passing over their friends the basics of painting. Now those skills are a
precious contribution to the successful results of this project.

masons

They have been working in the conservation project before and we trained them in the skills of masonry. Now they take care of the walls we are going to
paint. They collect the right kind of clay we need, they sieve it thoroughly to the grain size we want, they prepare masterfully the plaster and they make sure
the surface is as flat as possible.

electricians

They make sure we have light. They take care of the generators we use for work, they do all the maintenance. They set up all the wires and socket boxes and
they make sure the lighting runs smoothly. It seems an easy task but nothing is easy on the Himalaya. They can fix our generators even without spare parts!