Protesters excoriate Bowers for ‘neutral’ exhibit of art from occupied land.
By RICHARD CHANG
SANTA ANA – Eleven monks from southern India blew giant, resonant horns, chanted in deep-throated unison and performed a pair of lively dances Saturday in a Bowers Museum conference room.
Meanwhile, about 75 members of three area Tibetan groups protested outside, holding picket signs, handing out flyers and chanting, “Shame, shame, Bowers shame,” as well as “Free Tibet.”
Both events commemorated Losar, the Tibetan new year.
Inside Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, visitors, guests and monks celebrated the remote region’s 2131st year with chants, dancing, healing demonstrations and a slide show.
Outside, under falling rain, demonstrators expressed their opposition to the Bowers’ current exhibition, “Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World,” which they believe omits important facts about Tibet. Local Tibetan leaders called for a national boycott of the traveling exhibit.
“I am deeply saddened to be here in front of the Bowers Museum today on this auspicious Tibetan new year’s day,” said Tenzing Chonden, president of Orange County Friends of Tibet and an elected representative of the Tibetan parliament in exile.
“We have a few people that are willing to stand up and denounce and condemn the Bowers’ unscrupulous conduct towards Tibetans.”
Local Tibetans are frustrated by accounts that sound to them like censorship: monks being told not to display a picture of the Dalai Lama in the museum; some docents being instructed not to talk about Chinese occupation or contemporary Tibetan history; and portions of a lecturer’s handouts being removed prior to distribution.
Tibetans also view the exhibit’s text panels as incomplete and skewed toward a Chinese perspective.
The Bowers holds the position that displaying a portrait of the current Dalai Lama in the galleries or discussing Tibet under Chinese occupation are political acts the museum should avoid.
“We’re in the business of art; we’re not in the business of politics,” Bowers spokesman Rick Weinberg said. “We have to remain neutral. It’s inappropriate for the Bowers to take a political stance.”
On Saturday, the museum brought its long-scheduled Tibetan new year festival indoors due to the rain.
Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery kicked off the event, bringing a picture of the 14th Dalai Lama into the conference center and displaying it in the back. After a yak dance and some meditative chanting, the Tibetan Healing Center of San Diego followed with gongs and sonorous voices.
Through the afternoon, more than 100 visitors witnessed the proceedings. None of the speakers mentioned the simultaneous demonstrations.
Next door at the Bowers’ Kidseum, children created mini-sand mandalas.
Thupten Kunsang, spokesman for the Drepung Gomang monks, said they understood the protesting Tibetans’ concerns.
“We are fighting for the same cause here,” he said. Kunsang later expressed some confusion about how the Tibetan artifacts – priceless treasures in his homeland – made their way to the Bowers.
Officials from the Bowers negotiated intensively for the blockbuster exhibit, with President Peter Keller traveling to Tibet six times to renegotiate agreements after the show had been canceled. The museum has spent more than $1 million on the project.
As rain continued to fall Saturday, protesters held Tibetan-flag umbrellas and signs that read “Bowers insults Tibetans,” “Bowers misleads Californians” and “Bowers: Do the right thing.” Six demonstrators wore red silk surgical masks to represent the 6 million Tibetans silenced by China in their homeland. A group of women stood side by side, holding large portraits of the Dalai Lama.
“This is not China,” said Tenzin Dhamcho, president of Los Angeles Friends of Tibet. “We live in a free, democratic America. It is truly sad to see that the long arm of Beijing has found its way into our very own back yard.”
