I traveled to Canada last week to photograph the Tibetan communities of British Columbia and Washington state, protesting at the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver.
I did not set out, consciously or deliberately, to make photographs that said "Courage," though, looking at these images, that is what these pictures communicate to me.
The protest marked the anniversary of "Uprising Day," the date in 1959 when Tibetans tried to rebel against Chinese occupation of Tibet. The Tibetans were put down, swiftly, violently, and brutally, by the Chinese military. And the Dalai Lama was forced to flee, on horseback, over the Himalaya to exile in India.
Over 50 years after the uprising, unrest continues in Tibet. In the past several years, over 130 Tibetans in Tibet, mostly Buddhist monks and nuns, have set themselves on fire (self-immolated) to protest Chinese oppression.
The event I photographed in Vancouver was peaceful and somber, and began with a prayer for those who have died.
Some protesters covered their faces to preserve their anonymity. Though these Tibetans have emigrated to freedom in Canada or the United States, they do not want their actions here to bring on Chinese reprisals against their relatives back in Tibet.
