My name is Pagmotso and I am from an impoverished Tibetan village called Kusa Tang, which is in Make Tang Township, Jiantsa County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. I have already completed two projects for my community – for solar cookers and second-hand clothes.
Taking good photographs was always a problem for me when I was working on my projects. I want to learn camera skills through this course. Because of my family’s background, I had many difficult experiences in the past. This has given me the motivation to work on projects for those in similar situations. I want to take more pictures of my hometown, especially of people’s way of life in this agricultural area. Methods of farming where I live are very different from other areas.
I would especially like to focus on photographing fertilizing the fields and the process of fetching water. I feel that taking pictures and showing them to other people is a kind of cultural preservation. As modernization spreads in Tibetan areas people no longer consider our culture in the same way as before. Without pictures and histories, how will the next generation know about the value of my culture? Therefore, having photographic documentation of my village’s lifestyle is really important for current, and coming generations.
Projects
My Hometown