Sonam Dolma Brauen (born 1953) is a Tibetan-Swiss contemporary painter and sculptor.
Sonam Dolma Brauen | |
|---|---|
 Sonam Dolma Brauen at her studio in 2008 | |
| Born | Sonam Dolma 30 January 1953 |
| Nationality | Tibetan-Swiss |
| Other names | Sonam Dolma Wangmo |
| Education | Art School Bern |
| Occupation(s) | Contemporary painter, sculptor |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse | Martin Brauen |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Life and career
editEarly life
editSonam Dolma was born in Kongpo, Tibet (today Kongpo, Gongbo'gyamda County, Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibetan Autonomous Region, China), the daughter of Kunsang (Mola) Wangmo,[1] a former Bhikkhuni, and Tsering. The family left eastern Tibet when the 14th Dalai Lama refuged in 1959 to Dharamshala in northern India, crossing the Himalayas on foot. Sonam's father and her younger sister died on the journey.[2][3] Sonam grew up in nearby Dharamsala, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, during the Sino-Indian War. In autumn 1962, the family had to move to Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, where Sonam took a job waitressing in a Tibetan restaurant. One day she served tea to a Swiss from Bern, an ethnologist, fascinated by the Tibetan culture. They fell in love, and married, and soon after, Martin Brauen took Sonam and her mother Kunsang back with him to Switzerland: I would never have decided for myself to leave if Martin had not come and asked me to marry him. Settled in Bern, she learnt Swiss-German. Now, everywhere Sonam goes, she brings with her tsa tsa (small Votive offerings in the Mahāyāna Buddhism) that her parents carried out from Tibet: They make us remember.[4]
Education
editSonam Dolma Brauen began her training as artist at the Art School Bern and was educated by Arthur Freuler, Leopold Schropp, Mariann Bissegger, and Serge Fausto Sommer. She moved to New York City in 2008, where she lived for four years[5] in Manhattan, New York City; her studio was located in Long Island City.[6] Thenafter she stayed for a while in the USA, in Korea, Italy and went back to Switzerland.[5]
Personal life
editMarried to the Swiss ethnologist Martin Brauen, Sonam Dolma's daughter Yangzom Brauen (born in 1981) is a Swiss-Tibetan actress,[7] writer (Eisenvogel) and director (Who Killed Johnny). Eisenvogel ("Iron Bird"), her daughter's 2009 novel, is dedicated to Sonam Dolma's mother Kunsang and her escape from Tibet. The book tells about Yangzom's youth and their common life in exile, and became a bestseller in German-speaking countries. It was later published in English as Across Many Mountains.[4] Sonam's son, Tashi Brauen, is also an artist.[7][8]
Work
editHer paintings, sculptures and installations are exhibited in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Switzerland, USA and in Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art, Netherlands.[6][9]
Paintings
edit
Sonam Dolma Brauen's works is abstractly and has clear conceptions of her role as an “ethnic painter”, and is influenced of Buddhist concepts on her work.[10] Her paintings represent the Tibetan Contemporary art.
Installations
editAfter moving to New York City, Brauen began working more with installations using materials and objects like used monk robes from Asia, plaster, empty ammunition shells. Provocative works utilize teeth and used ammunition in pieces that comment on contemporary society. Her installations express ongoing themes that preoccupy her: Machoism and its relation to power, money and war; and the political situation in her home country Tibet.[5]
Critics
editThe art scope magazine claims, one would think, given Dolma’s origins ... that her art would reflect overtly political or nationalist themes. Or that, being Tibetan-born, she would follow the traditional artistic mores of strict Buddhist iconography. Rather, Dolma’s wall-spanning acrylics and floor-spanning installations tackle a thoroughly rougher territory: the expanse of cultural folly and the crimes of emotion.[11]
Further reading
edit- Brauen, Yangzom (2009), Eisenvogel (Across Many Mountains). Heyne Verlag (Random House), München, ISBN 978-3453164048.
References
edit- ^ Jührend, Katja (25 January 2010). "Yangzom Brauen: Essen ein Geschenk" [Yangzom Brewing: Food a Gift]. Brigitte (in German). Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ "Swiss made in Hollywood". Der Landbote (in German). 3 July 2013. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
- ^ Vowinkel, Heike (27 September 2009). "Drei Generationen Tibet" [Three generations of Tibet]. Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
- ^ a b di Giovanni, Janine (7 March 2011). "Across Many Mountains: Escape from Tibet". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ a b c "Bio & CV". sonambrauen.net. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Portfolio Sonam Dolma Brauen". portfotolio.net. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ a b Weigelt, Nadia (27 March 2008). "Auf dem Weg nach Hollywood: Tibet-Aktivistin Yangzom Brauen" [On the way to Hollywood: Tibet activist Yangzom Brauen]. n-tv (in German). Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ^ "Diplom Bachelor 2010: Tashi Brauen". University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (in German). 2010. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ^ "Exhibitions". sonambrauen.net. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ Höfer, Regina (November 2011). "Making Emptiness Visible: Sonam Dolma and Contemporary Tibetan Abstraction". Modern Art Asia (Journal webpage for issue 8). Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ Thornton, Clara Rose (November–December 2010). "Sonam Dolma: Exploring inner mountains". Artscope Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
External links
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