Unbounded Bound
The first photography project in the OYAOYA Residency series centers around Tibetan incense. In Tibetan, "Oya" carries a positive and affirmative connotation. Tibetan incense, symbolizing tradition, faith, and modernity, provides cultural identity and spiritual solace for the Tibetan people.
Since the 1960s, in what is deemed the 'Last Pristine Land on Earth, faint traces of modern urbanization unfolddelic ately. This photo series explores the daily lives of herders within a 3-hour radius of a Tibetan incense factory in Labra ng, featuring a basketball court amid herds of cattle and sheep, Aunty Renkar observes dietary restrictions for the Gal dan Namchot festival, and Kar Dhon Tso, 33 years old and already a mother of two girls, stands with dandelions in the air.
The vast grasslands, the boundless sky, embody the sought-after Tibetan freedom for many. When urban dwellers brie fly escape the cyclical life dominated by capitalism to this place, they discover that herders, despite being bound by d ay-to-day labor, also aspire to modernization and departure. The individuals in the images, it turns out, are also in pu rsuit of freedom. Although intangible, freedom resonates through floating seeds and rising smoke.
More information: https://www.wulmagazine.com/editorials/lilla-lin
