Posted on: Sunday, September 8, 2002
ART REVIEW
Photographs provide rare look into Bhutan life
By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Reviewer
| 'Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan'
Photography by John Wehrheim Through Sept. 25 East-West Center Gallery |
If you missed taking that out-of-the-ordinary vacation this summer, don't despair. A virtual exotic journey awaits you at the East-West Center Gallery. The exhibit, "Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan," is a collection of rich photographic images, journal entries, videos and artifacts (photographs of the king, maps, masks, thanka paintings, weavings, money, temple bells, altar vessels, textiles, prayer flags and literary quotations) from a land altogether isolated from the outside world until 1974 and still not often visited.
Distinguished photographer, civil engineer and Kaua'i resident John Wehrheim has been visiting Bhutan since 1991.The wide selection of flawless photographs in this exhibit illustrate Wehrheim's attention to detail and composition. It is not surprising that his work has been published in books and purchased by the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts.
Like Ansel Adams, Wehrheim came to Hawai'i to make photographs for a Sierra Club project. For archival and historical reasons, Wehrheim also photographs in black and white for intensely dramatic effects.
Wehrheim breathes life into his photographs by including journal entries and other facts about this landlocked kingdom the Bhutanese refer to as Druk Yul — Land of the Thunder Dragon. A pair of thunder dragons encircle crossed thunderbolts on the national crest, which can be seen in temples and from the cliff-hanging monasteries. An example accompanies this exhibit.
Bhutan (about the size of Switzerland, with nearly 700,000 residents) allowed fewer than 8,000 tourists to enter the country in 2000. The $200-a-day visa fee reflects its preservation policy of "low volume, high quality." Although Bhutan has been relatively cut off from the outside world, an Internet cafe opened in the capital, Thimphu, two years ago. Wehrheim believes that because of this, the country's unique culture may be endangered. So he will continue to record it with his camera.he United States has no diplomatic relations with Bhutan, and it is difficult for Bhutanese to obtain visas to the United States. But in Hawai'i, we have a rare chance to see through the eyes of a man who believes that Bhutan's existence on Earth benefits everyone. (Wehrheim says that the "culture is aligned with spirit, and vibrates energy 24 hours a day.") He notes that all Bhutanese villages and hamlets are built around sacred springs, and some of them have fantastic hot springs.
Portraits of monks, nuns, hermits and ordinary people of Bhutan seem to glow from the inside, providing a supernatural light in Wehrheim's photographs. "Ani Pema and Ani Tashi" (two nuns at the Zilukha Nunnery), "Face of the Girl in Hot Spring, Gasa," "Aum Tashi and her granddaughter, Lunana," and "A Damji Family" beam light from their eyes.
"Some of the places photographed are a two-week walk from the closest motorway," said Wehrheim, who has trekked the Himalayas many times in the past 30 years. "And some of the people in the hermitages and mountain monasteries have never seen a tourist."
He used yak trains, which carried food and tents for treks at more than 10,000 feet, and pack horses for hauling supplies in lower altitudes. Fortunately for him, he is not afraid of heights and has a passion for mountain climbing.
Photos courtesy of The Honolulu Academy of Arts "I have been on trails where yaks have fallen off and died, but I didn't feel afraid," said Wehrheim, for whom Bhutan is like a second home.
Wehrheim is also in the process of a long-term joint venture with the Bhutan Department of Power to develop clean hydro-electric energy. The Bhutanese insist on putting mantras in the prayer wheels that are connected to the water turbines so they can continue to pray for all sentient beings. Because of this, powerhouses are circled with prayer flags and resemble shrines.
"Tchukye, 16 yr. old Laya Girl, 1998" is a photograph of a girl with a Mona Lisa smile. She is wearing a pema chorten, a hat shaped like a lotus blossom, which symbolizes honor and protection from misogyny. Their religion teaches "the irrelevance of gender as a false dualism in the power of sexual polarities," according to the information below the photograph. "Women in Bhutan are portrayed as embodiments of the female deity. Though man's divinity is an accepted premise, the divinity of women is emphasized by patterning tantric male/female relationships as that between a devotee and a deity."
Take time to read the notes below the photographs. They are fascinating and further reveal that the Bhutanese "believe that the earth, trees, sky and water all contain spirits and are guarded by protective deities. They realize on every level, from superstition to science, that if they cut down their trees and anger the deities, their prayer wheels will no longer send blessings out into the universe, and the primary source of their life and livelihood will dry up."
Imagine a culture that drinks yak butter and black tea, has a drunken sex-crazed monk for a national saint and believes it is imperative to maintain a balance between Gross National Product and Gross National Happiness.
When can we go?
As Yukio Ozaki told me recently, "Clay has a life of its own." His and the work of 30 other ceramic artists corroborate that idea in the "Beyond Craft: Modern Ceramics of Hawaii" exhibit at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Through Oct. 27 John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery Honolulu Academy of Arts The earth is alive, whether you raku, high-fire, low-fire, pinch, throw, coil, slab, hand-build or mold-cast it. Under the skilled hands of a trained potter or ceramicist, it is not only infused with life, it is exquisite. Fantasy work like Suzanne Wolfe's imposing "Masked Cat Waiting," Vicky Chock's masterfully color-stained "What Next" and Esther Shimazu's satirical "Doggerel" are works that entertain.
Commanding, large sculptural works by Harue McVay, Shigeru Miyamoto and Toshiko Takaezu are scattered throughout the upstairs gallery along with the powerful richness of the added works in other media by Lucille Cooper (sennit, hand-dyed), Carl Fieber (barbed wired), Lori Uyehara (Japanese papers) and Linda Gue (silver and copper wire).
This is an impressive selection of various firing, glazing, staining, wheel-throwing, building and constructing techniques. It also is an opportunity to sneak a peek at what the academy has collected.
Above: "What Next?" is a hand-built ceramic sculpture by Vicky Chock. Below: "Doggerel" is hand-built stoneware by Esther Shimazu.
'Beyond Craft: Modern Ceramics of Hawaii'
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
1-5 p.m. Sundays
900 S. Beretania St.
532-8700
