This photo is of Sangpo, a Tibetan monk from Germany, who was visiting the eighth-century Buddhist monument of Borobudur in central Java with his Tibetan teacher. Exiled to India when the Chinese moved into Tibet, the teacher was nearly as old as the Dalai Lama. When he noticed the ‘headless’ Buddha statues at Borobudur, he remarked: ‘Bad karma!’
I was born in Singapore in 1978 and am a curator and researcher focusing on the photographic practices of southeast Asia. I use the medium of photography to understand the cultures and histories of the Chinese communities in the region.
