Tibetan butter sculptures and performance photographic slides, 1989

Tibetan monks from the Gyuto Tantric Monastery making butter sculptures in a month-long butter sculpting project in the AMNH Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds. The sculptures depicted a number of figures including Shayamuni Buddha, the five visions of Tsongkhapa, White Tara, 16 offering goddesses of Chakrasamvara, four protector dieties, the seven ornaments of royalty and the mandalas of Guhyasamaja, Vajrabhairava and Chakrasamvara, all embellished with delicate flowers and leaves. Some of the individual sculptures are included in this collection. The Butter Sculpture project was a joint venture of the Gyuto Tantric Monastery, the AMNH and Tibet House/New York.