Nepalese Thankga Artists

A Thangka is a traditional Buddhist painting done on cotton or silk. They can be found right across the Himalayas although they are most commonly associated with Tibet.

They often depict a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala and provide a visual story on the lives of saints and masters.

Most Thangka's are relatively small as they were originally used for personal meditation or for the instruction of monastic students and in the latter case, need to be carried around a lot.

In order to safely do so they are traditionally kept unframed and rolled up when not on display in order to protect them, since they are very delicate.

Some thangkas are designed to be displayed during religious festivals and these can be several metres in each dimension.

Information found on wikipedia.

They are often very elaborate and include many very small figures surrounding a central deity in a symmetrical composition as you can see in this photograph.

Thangka artists often work for many hours in small and intensely condensed work spaces like this one which I photographed during my trip to Nepal.

It was taken in a Thangka school in Nepal which is staffed by master painters and attended by students from across the country. While we were there we were told that many artists suffer health problems later in life especially vision related ones.

This is because they require long hours of visual attention and mental concentration to trace very fine and intricate designs and details.

I did some research on this and found a publication that concluded that a significant proportion of Thangka artists exhibit symptoms of blurred vision and burning sensations amongst other things. You can find out more details of the health problems faced by the artists by clicking on the link.