I had an image of Tibet long before I went. It was nothing like that. Yes, the mountains tower high, but in no way had I been prepared for the breadth of space, the congeniality of the people or the pervasiveness of faith in the everyday.

Faith appears, often barely distinguishable, in the most innocent and ordinary and barren of places. The mist from juniper burned as incense that scents morning breezes. The man making prostrations around the temple each morning. A wind-eroded prayer flag tagged by a stone to an anonymous mountain pass. Even pictures in a disco of the Dalai Lama, placed above video screens showing Madonna and New York rappers. These gestures of faith fascinate me more than the large ceremonies and renowned temples. The simplest of movements and placement of objects connect the Tibetan to Buddhism, the land to religion. This is the context of these photographs. Not necessarily because I sought out religion, but because it was there, sometimes to my surprise.  

In the last hundred years, Tibet has witnessed many losses and changes—to its people, its religion, its physical structures, its culture. More recently, Tibet faces threats brought by the double-edged sword of modernization and relative economic prosperity, as well as by closer integration with interior China and rapid development. In the modern environment, the religion, integral to Tibetan identity, is an enduring presence.

As they move through their day, Tibetans carry religion with them. They have marked it on the land and in their customs. Tibet remains a sacred land, and Lhasa “the place of the gods.”

I made these images from 1993-1995. 

Tibet - Morning in the Barkhor