Argentine photographer Ángel López Soto speaks with Efetur about his new exhibition Himalaya. The Buddha Mountains, which shows the life of the Tibetan people in exile and which can be seen until March 3 in Madrid.
BEATRIZ MAPELLI / It will be done 13 FEBRUARY, 2017
Until next time 3 March you can visit the exhibition Himalaya. The Buddha Mountains from the photographer Angel Lopez Soto, in the room B the travel brand Experience (C/ Miguel Ángel 33, Madrid). This sample, formed by 23 Photographs, It is a journey through the history of Tibet and its people in exile to locations in India or Nepal, after the Chinese invasion of 1949.
The author, who had the opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama on several of his trips, In this interview, he reveals to us all the details of an exhibition that shows “a hidden reality that should be brought to light.”.
¿What the visitor can discover at the exhibition Himalaya. The Buddha Mountains?
The exhibition is made up of 23 large format images that took me six months to select. They are just color images of the thousands of files I have made over almost twenty years. In this exclusive extract that I have selected for the exhibition you can see the landscapes of the Himalayas, its people, their traditions, and different cultural aspects of the area.
¿The images are accompanied by some type of explanatory text?
Yeah, from a long caption. He 90% They are from the writer Javier Moro, awarded the Planeta Prize, and author of The Buddha Mountains, book from which some texts have been extracted; others have been made exclusively for the occasion. There are also texts by film director Gerardo Olivares.
¿What is pursued with this sample??
In this exhibition we do not see the topic of social denunciation that I have worked on for a long time.. Here I limit myself to highlighting, above all, cultural aspects, the environment in which Tibetans live, their traditions, etc.
The Himalayas seen from the Gyalwu La Pass (Tibet). Photo: Courtesy of B the travel brand
¿How and why he decided to immortalize Tibetan drama? ¿How the idea came about?
This question has an answer and it doesn't.. I started this project on a trip I took through Nepal, India, and the Tibetan environment, where I met people who had crossed the Himalayas in total harsh weather, clandestinely escaping, and suffering avalanches and frostbite. They arrived in Kathmandu in a deplorable state and I had the opportunity to come into contact with them in different Tibetan settlements in Nepal and India.. That was my first contact. I wasn't planning on coming back but it caught me so much that I even came back. 30 times to these areas to photograph different aspects.
¿What impacted you most about your experience??
I remember a really hard and delicate experience. It was in the Upper Gulf, where I spent a month and a half making a documentary. It was very complicated due to the weather and the altitude.; of terrible hardness.
There is also another type of hardness. Running into people who have experienced very delicate situations, who have suffered a lot, who arrive in countries where they are not recognized as refugees… However, The Tibetan people have something that is admirable: an inner strength that is incredible that can exist after so much suffering. They are an example for me.
Delving a little deeper into that question, ¿How do you describe the Tibetan people??
They come from a region that is very hard in itself., Adapting to these geographical conditions and climates already involves a great effort.. She further , for its culture, its tradition, and his way of understanding life, I insist, What characterizes them most is their inner strength, that allows them to overcome extreme situations and ensure that they do not lose hope. It is a very united town, very supportive, very organized, very positive, and very peaceful.
Leh Palace during winter in Ladakh (India). Photo: Courtesy of B the travel brand
On one of his trips he was able to meet the Dalai Lama, ¿What can stand out to me from the meeting??
In the exhibition there is a photograph of the Dalai Lama. I was with him on different occasions and in different places. He is a public person, well-known, with a personality that impacts. It is the maximum exponent of inner firmness, a reference for many people, a spiritual leader, and a very charismatic person who gives off great energy. It has more than 80 years and it seems like it was made of iron.
His role as a photographer and traveler has allowed him to discover amazing places., ¿Which one did you like the most??
Fortunately we have a planet that is very interesting, very varied, with very attractive places. From what I've seen, in addition to the entire Himalayan area, India especially catches me, a very intense country. Also Iran and its people, I was very surprised by his education, your kindness, its culture… Also, of course, Brazil; the sahara desert; Patagonia; o Yemen.
¿Is there someone I particularly want to meet??
I have a thorn in Cuba, I am especially attracted to; and Bolivia. Two places I would love to visit.
¿Why would I recommend visiting your exhibition??
You can see it in the room B the travel brand Experience until next time 3 of March and, in parallel, a series of conferences on the Himalayas has been organized, with seven top speakers. I invite people to come because I think it is a very interesting place where they will discover things they don't know about the Tibetan environment., a hidden reality that should be brought to light.
