Earthquake inspires a storyteller’s art
Print Edition
In one of his early paintings, Goinbotobden drew himself. “Prefab Classroom” shows him and seven other children huddled round a book. Through the classroom windows two blue tents bearing Chinese characters for “disaster relief” are clearly visible.
Goinbotobden is from Yushu Prefecture in northwest China’s Qinghai Province. The scenery is beautiful, but the climate is harsh, with long, cold winters and short, wet summers. In the spring of 2010, an earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people there, completely flattening the town of Gyegu.
Goinbotobden was 11 years old when his life was shaken apart. Thrown to the ground in the courtyard of Gyegu orphanage, he injured his right arm. He watched terrified as buildings collapsed around him and the lifeless bodies of villagers disappeared under landslides.
When the quake was over, weeping crowds of survivors began the search for their loved ones and lost possessions.
“Prefab Classroom” was painted in the aftermath of this destruction.
The oldest of four children, Goinbotobden was sent to the orphanage at the age of 8, the year he began primary school. He has never met his father and his ailing mother was unable to bring up all her children on her own.
His home village of Kyichu was largely unaffected by the quake, and with the orphanage destroyed, he was bandaged up and sent back to his mother for a month. “My mom cried and so did our neighbors,” he said. “They felt guilty; as if they were to blame for my injuries.”
Goinbotobden became interested in painting shortly after he returned to school. Prefabs were put up as makeshift classrooms while a new school was built and soon he was painting everything he saw — prefab houses, tents, monasteries and relief workers — plus images of the gods Tibetans revere. He also painted an imaginary portrait of his father as a kindly old gentleman in a crimson robe.
The man who was his substitute father was Banru Deleg, head of the orphanage. From Nangqen County like Goinbotobden, Banru Deleg had watched his mother die while giving birth to his twin sisters. He left home at 16 to study Buddhism, first in Qinghai and then in Sichuan and Beijing, before returning to manage the orphanage.
“We Tibetans believe life is an eternal cycle of birth, death and reincarnation,” he said. “I willingly serve others and trust that my kindness will pay off.”
He was astonished by Goinbotobden’s art and encouraged him to develop his talent. In 2011, Goinbotobden was among a group of 10 children in Yushu chosen to learn painting under a charity program sponsored by painter Zhou Chunya, famous for his “Green Dog” series.
The children learned both Chinese and Western painting skills and worked under a renowned local Thangka painter, who taught them the basics of the traditional Tibetan art.
Goinbotobden describes painting as telling stories on a scroll.
“When I grow up,” Goinbotobden said, “I’ll teach the children from my hometown to paint their own stories.”
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