Journey into Exile at the Houses of Parliament
Tuesday March 10th 2009 In London, UK, Tibetans and supporters marked this key anniversary with high profile events taking place at the Houses of Parliament.
One of the main events organized, was an art exhibition, by Art Refuge UK, a unique charity which helps children who have recently escaped from Tibet, deal with the traumas of their difficult physi- cal and emotional journeys, through the creative use of art and play therapy.
The exhibition was hosted by Julie Morgan, MP for Cardiff North, and as part of her opening speech, she expressed strong support for the work of the charity, and spoke of the powerful feelings and emotions evoked by the children’s paintings and de- pictions of their journeys into exile.
The artwork was displayed prominently in the Upper Waiting Hall of the House of Commons, a significant area within the Houses of Parliament, ensuring the paintings were openly on view to hundreds of MPs and visitors making their way to and from the various committee rooms, during the 4 days of the exhibition. A stand with literature, information and a short video on Art Refuge’s work, attracted much attention, and many postcards of the children’s work, along with leaflets were distributed.
The paintings on display depicted the many painful and shocking experiences observed firsthand by the children, as well as the sadness of the situation in Tibet as transmitted down to them by their families. Most striking, were a set of paintings from children who had survived the ill-fated journey in 2006, where Chinese soldiers were captured on film shooting and killing a 25yr old nun, during their dangerous journey across the Nangpa Pass. A journey chronicled in the documentary ‘Murder in the Snow’. However, the paintings also showed the undeniable hopes and aspirations of the children, and one very vivid painting depicted the bright red of the Chinese flag being symbolically held in the beak of a white dove, as it flies and lifts the flag away to unveil a peaceful scene of a Buddhist monastery in a green landscape.
The opening ceremony was attended by a number of prominent MPs, including Fabian Hamilton and Barbara Keeley, as well as Lord David Steel. Fredrick Hyde-Chambers, Chairman of the Tibet Soci- ety, as well as the Secretary General of the International Association of Business and Parliament, gave a short speech highlighting the important and novel work of Art Refuge, and the incredible strength of support and goodwill for the Tibetan issue, despite 60 years of occupation.
Earlier in the day, despite a cold rain-soaked London afternoon, the various Tibet support groups had organized a mass lobby to petition MPs from across the country to press for action on Tibet. Over 300 people took part, and the corridors of parliament were filled with Tibetans, many in tradi- tional dress. The figurehead for the mass lobby was the Venerable Palden Gyatso, and the exhibi-
tion opening was also made more poignant by a surprise visit from him later that evening to add support to the work of Art Refuge.
Frances Fox, a Trustee of Art Refuge, also expressed the need to carry on their crucial work in help- ing children find a safe space in which to find freedom from their traumatic experiences, fears, and anxieties. She elaborated the horrors and shocking scenes the children have witnessed or heard about, and stressed the importance for the children to have a safe and supportive space in order to help nurture healing and to simply allow them to be children again.
Photographs of the Art Refuge UK ‘Journey into Exile’ exhibition reception at the Houses of
Parliament 10th March 2009 can now be viewed on Flickr: