My name is Tsemdo and my English name is Champ. I was born in 1987 in Karmatang (Starland) Village, Xinjii Township, Chika (Guide) County, Tsolho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, PRC.
I grew up in a farming village where all the residents are from different places. These different groups settled here many years ago. The first people who came to my village were from Rebgong. There is a spot named Rebgong Street in my village where those first settlers lived. Since this time people from Jiantsa and Hualong also came to stay. We call our village Karmatang because some of the residents came from a village in Jiantsa that is also called Karmatang.
As I take more and more photos I am becoming increasingly interested in photography. My opinions about photography are also changing. Taking a good photo drives you back to earlier generations’ memories. Photography can document important events and can be kept for a long time. My photographs will be seen by my children, which I think is very valuable.
I like to work with NGOs and am interested in doing sustainable development projects within communities in my local area. I have implemented two projects - A library project by The Shambala Connection and An English Training Project by Global Learning Across Borders - Pratt Institute.
For information about these projects, see:
http://www.archive.org/details/EnglishTeachingProjectKarmatangTibetanPrimarySchool
http://www.thdl.org/community/pdfs/TibetanPrimarySchoolShambalaConnection.pdf
In the future I aim to use my photographic skills to better document my development and cultural preservation projects.
Projects
Latse
Latse is a kind of ritual where a large bundle of weapons is positioned in a high place. A Latse ritual takes place annually in almost every Tibetan area. Many kinds of materials are needed, such as fake rifles, spears, arrows and knives. Besides this, there are a lot of religious chants that take place relating to the new creation of a Latse, as you can see in my images. When people build a Latse, it will embody the local mountain deity. The deity will bring good luck, good harvests, and will protect the village from natural disasters. A Latse is usually located on mountaintops or other high, auspicious places. Fewer Latse are being built nowadays and preserving the process of a Latse ritual is very important.