Workshop@PAM: Circulating Knowledge Through the Air and Land

Create traditional Himalayan prayer flags while exploring Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, and our relationship with the environment. Workshop: Circulating Knowledge Through Air and Land Synthetic prayer flags have been enthusiastically embraced throughout the Himalayas and by Buddhist communities around the world over the last three decades. Traditionally, prayer flags, known as lungta and tarchod, were intended to carry prayers and blessings on the wind and were printed as needed in villages and monasteries using biodegradable materials. Mass production using synthetic fabrics and screen printing has made prayer flags more convenient to obtain. However, the discovery of microplastics in high mountain environments, along with growing concerns about waste in glaciers, streams, and the stomachs of nonhuman animals, has led communities to critically reconsider whether this convenience is worth the environmental impact. How can prayer flags once again foster good relationships between humans, the land, and more-than-human beings? This workshop will guide participants in creating prayer flags using ancestral knowledge from the Himalayas while exploring the interconnected issues of Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, and waste in global ecosystems. USC staff and students, as well as PAM members, receive a 20% discount. Please email [email protected] for the discount code or additional information. Tickets include museum admission to We Are Connected, and parking. More about Dr. Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia: Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia is a scholar from the Lhopo community in the Sikkim Himalayas. He has published and taught extensively on Indigenous knowledge, Buddhism, the environment, and the return and repair of local knowledge and histories in the mountains. He has made traditional prayer flags since childhood and now shares this knowledge with local communities throughout the Himalayas. This program is presented in conjunction with two current exhibitions: Gateway to Himalayan Art, a traveling exhibition organized and provided by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and We Are Connected: Highlights from the USC Pacific Asia Museum’s Himalayan Collection.