Tibetan Memories

Stories from Exile and Dreams Deferred

by Eugene H. Johnson DVM Ph.D.

Other Mirasol Delfin Johnson

Imprint: George F Thompson Publishing

160 Pages, 12 x 11.2 in, 107 black-and-white illustrations

Hardcover
9781960521064
December 2024
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$45.00

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In a world full of exiles, more than 150,000 of which are Tibetan, this book is not only of historical significance, it puts a human face on the increasingly complex problem of people being forcibly displaced from their homelands...

Tibetan Memories is the first book to present the stories and compelling images of ordinary Tibetan women and men in exile. In their own words, we listen to the gravity of their situations, and each story is accompanied by uplifting black-and-white portraits of those featured and of Ladakh, where they found refuge after the Chinese communists took over their homeland in 1959.

In a world full of exiles and refugees, 150,000 of whom are Tibetan, this book is not only of historical significance, it is timely. It puts an unforgettable human face on the increasingly complex and growing problem of people being forcibly displaced from their homeland––as many as 110 million according to a recent U.N. study.

To meet the people and make these photographs, Dr. Johnson and his wife, Mirasol, traveled throughout Ladakh, visiting many villages and talking with dozens of people. Most of them had to leave everything behind when they fled: their family, friends, and animals, often their most precious possessions and with whom they had a unique and symbiotic relationship.
The situation of the Tibetan refugees in Ladakh and the rest of India, which has the highest concentration of Tibetan refugees, is particularly heartbreaking and challenging. They cannot become citizens, own land or property, or travel internationally or freely even throughout India. They also are excluded from government or other public jobs.

Yet, as Dr. Johnson reveals in his photographs and stories, all of these refugees are remarkably resilient, wise, and hopeful. They have made their tragedy—and their enduring devotion to their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and to their Buddhist practice—sources of strength which continue to sustain them. With an enduring faith, they maintain their belief that Tibet will one day be free, believing that losing that hope would be the ultimate disaster.

In these often difficult and dark times throughout the world, when too many people are uncertain of their future and concerned about the future well-being of the planet, these remarkable individuals from Tibet show us the meaning of hope and of never giving up. They also show us that every human being deserves compassion, for, without it, the future of humanity stands in peril.

Dr. Eugene H. Johnson was Professor of Comparative Medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman from 2000 until his retirement in 2024. Prior to that appointment, he worked as a National Institutes of Health Clinical Research Scientist at the Yale University Medical School. He has mentored numerous students and research scientists from many parts of the world, written more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and served as a reviewer and editor for many medical journals worldwide. A passionate photographer since 1974, he is the author of A Photographic Pilgrimage, Something’s Fishy (Unspoken Dialogues, 2004) and Reflections from the Not So Distant Past in Oman, a two-volume series commissioned by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman. His photographic work has been featured in many notable magazines, including Black and White Photography, Docubooks, Estado de Sao Paulo, Food and Travel, Iris Foto, Lenswork, and Whimsical Magazine, and in books such as Looking at Images, by Brooks Jensen, the long-time editor of Lenswork. His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Royal Court of the Sultanate of Oman, Nairobi National Museum in Kenya, Museum of Art in Sao Paulo, Brazilian American Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., Banco do Brasilia in Brazil, Al-Bustan Palace in Oman, and has been showcased in Brazil, Germany, India, Kazakhstan and Kenya. In 2004, the United States Embassy in the Sultanate of Oman hosted a thirty-year retrospective of his works that was co-sponsored by seventeen international corporations.

Mirasol Delfin Johnson was born in the Rizal province of the Philippines and pursued her education at Roosevelt College in Manila and AMA University, Quezon City, Philippines, where she studied commerce and computer science. In 1988, she relocated to Norway, which marked a significant turning point in her professional path. After initially working with bilingual and Filipino-Norwegian children at the Educational and Learning Development Center in Oslo, she became a representative for bilingual assistants from various countries as well as a legal interpreter and translator within both the judicial system and medical establishments. Her multifaceted cultural background has been invaluable in her role as the Associate Director of Unspoken Dialogues, a non-profit organization she co-founded with Eugene Johnson to promote narrative photographic imagery that conveys universal themes of humanity, and which donates the proceeds from the sale of prints and books to educational and child-health development programs.