Mark Hendriks' Tibet SE

Tibet, several years after the country gained independence. Rival Buddhist sects fight each other in a bloody civil war.

In the meantime, Mhusha, the butcher’s daughter, is posessed by an evil demon. He is causing angry red spots all over her body that she can’t get rid of. The local nobleman and the monastery grant her permission to travel to Dbu Li, where a lama with healing powers is said to live. By painting the walls of his monastery, the demon will be exorcised and Mhusha will be cured. Mhusha sets off, together with her neighbor, in search of the monastery. Along the way they are helped by mountain demons, holy signs, esoteric maps, enlightened masters, dreams and clouds.

In Tibet, Mark Hendriks shows a different side of the country that Westeners usually think of as pristine, peaceful and spiritual: a country where corrupt monks are in charge and religious extremism and suppression of the population are everyday realities. In his beautiful, flowing style, Hendriks paints a mystical, but harsh world, where dreams and reality seamlessly overlap.