“ང་ཚོས་འཚོ་བ་འདི་འདྲ་སེ་བསྐྱལ་བ་རེད་” “…this is how we made a livelihood”

Welcome to our workshop. Here we sit on the floor, pour butter tea for each other, work shoulder to shoulder and we dream up better futures for our children. We share laughter and stories as our hands unleash intricate knots into our looms. Yes, our backs ache, fingers harden and years pass with every piece we weave…this is how we made a livelihood

This month a curated community engaged installation will showcase the hand woven carpets made by local Tibetan youth who participated in Made in Exile’s weaving program in the winter of 2019. Every Sunday for 10 weeks 8 youth gathered together, 2 per loom with one elder sitting in between them as they learned the practice of carpeting weaving.

“This was a completely Tibetan powered program: from our loom maker (Pa Penpa Tsering), to our weaving instructors (Ama Penpa, Ama Tsamchoe, Ama Phunstok and Ama Lhaki) and to our artist Mentor (Acha Tsomo Tsari)...we had an intergenerational program that held the intersections of community, labour and art through the medium of weaving. Here is where we made a place for ourselves. Here is where generations of community came to know about the stories of our elders whose livelihoods ensured our present lives.”

This installation is paying homage to the generations of elders who created a livelihood for themselves in exile in the textile industry in Nepal and India securing a future for new generations of Tibetans being born in exile.

Featured works by Tenzin Jamyang, Sangya Nangsal, Tenzing Dolkar, Lhanze Kishong, Sonam Chokey, Tenzin Choekyi, Lhawang Dolma and Tenzin Daesel.