Searching in the Depths of the Himalayas ▎ Nepali Paincer Tsewang Lama
Nature
Mount Kailash
The Life of Nomads
Salt Caravan
Painting is stronger than me,
it makes me do its bidding.
—Picasso
Stupa and Tree
Inspired by Culture and Nature
Nyingba Four Tribes
Tsewang Lama
(Wang Lama / Tsewang Lama)
Born on October 30, 1990,
in the Tibetan village of Nyingba Four Tribes
(ཉིན་ཡུལ་ཚོ་བཞི། Nyin Yul-tsho bZhi),
Humla District (འོམ་ལྷ།),
Northwestern Nepal,
into a farming family.
The Nyingba People
Humla is located
at the border between Tibet and Nepal,
near Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar,
and serves as the essential gateway to these sacred mountains and lakes.
Mount Kailash
According to historical records,
Humla includes the Upper (སྟོད།) Six Tribes,
the Middle (སྨད།) Seven Tribes, and the Tsang (གཙང་།) Five Tribes.
Among them, the Nyingba Tribe belongs to the four Tibetan villages
of Middle Humla.
Lubrag Village
Tsewang spent most of his childhood
in this serene land,
which led to him starting his urban education relatively late.
Yet, he became the first artist
to graduate from the village.
Manasalu Valley
Multi-hyphenate Youth
After spending a few years at a boarding school in Kathmandu,
Tsewang moved to India for further studies.
Nepal
From a young age, he loved art.
After meeting his mentors, Sanjay Kumar and Baldev Singh,
he became even more certain of his life's path.
Shiva's incarnation - Lord Bhairab
In 2009,
at the All India Art Competition
organized by the Himachal State Museum in Shimla, India,
Tsewang won first prize.
He then completed his studies in Kathmandu and Chandigarh,
earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from the Kathmandu University Art Department in 2014.
Boudha Stupa
Today,
Tsewang is a "multi-hyphenate" talent—
a painter, sculptor, designer,
illustrator, traveler, and photographer.
Awakened Soul
Beautiful as Truth
The Standard Times published an article
titled "Beautiful as Truth"
featuring Tsewang:
"Tsewang Lama isn't extraordinary,
but the Himalayan villages he paints are."
A Glimpse of Mustang
"Tsewang is a shy boy,
untouched by fame, profit,
or the hype of galleries and exhibitions.
Each of his paintings reveals
a unique kind of boldness."
Horse Racing
Tsewang has an obsessive love
for distant lands and diverse cultures.
His artistic inspiration comes from
culture and nature.
He once said:
"Through my art, I share the beauty
and diversity of the world as I see it."
Mani Stone - The Perfect Fusion of Culture and Nature
The Fading of Memory
Through his artwork,
Tsewang explores the challenges faced by those
trapped between the past and modernity,
documenting the impact of modern society
on contemporary lives.
The demon Lakhey from Nepali folklore
He mentioned:
"I increasingly feel an urgent need
to document the indigenous people deeply affected
by urbanization and globalization—
where traditional ways of life, ancient cultural
practices, languages, and more
are vanishing at an alarming rate."
Disappear
Industrialization and urbanization not only endanger
many endangered species in nature,
but also pose a threat to biological and cultural diversity,
severely impacting societies with centuries of history.
Disappear
Through connection and experience,
we learn tolerance and appreciation for others.
Through travel and continuous learning,
I’ve come to realize that people worldwide,
despite differing beliefs, customs, and languages,
are all interconnected.
Mask Dance
When a group vanishes from this world,
we lose a part of ourselves.
The extinction of a culture
means the erasure of memory and history.
Buddha and the Nalagiri Elephant
For the future,
it is nothing less than a loss.
By documenting these remote communities,
I hope to show others
exactly what is vanishing."
Ode to the Yak
Tsewang hopes to uncover
the hidden stories of the Himalayas through painting.
He doesn’t know when his fingertips
first longed to hold a brush,
but one thing is certain:
becoming an artist, for someone like him,
was no accident.
Sun and Moon
Sun and Moon
Sun and Moon
"In essence, a photograph can never entirely transcend its subject, whereas a painting can."
— Susan Sontag, On Photography
Tsewang Lama
Painter | Photographer
Born in a Tibetan village in Nepal, he won first prize in the All India Art Competition in 2009. In 2010, he completed his intermediate art education in Chandigarh. During his two years in Chandigarh and one year in Kathmandu, he participated in several art studio projects and group exhibitions. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kathmandu University’s Art Department in 2014.
He worked as a photographer for GIZ Nepal and illustrated multiple books and magazines. His paintings have been exhibited at the Chandigarh Government Museum and various international hotels in Nepal and abroad.
In 2014, Tsewang auctioned one of his artworks to support flood relief efforts. In 2015, he donated another piece to the Red Panda Network—an international organization dedicated to red panda conservation—to fund protection projects in Nepal and the Himalayan region.
