Tibetan self-immolators inspire Chinese painter
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Artist Liu Yi arranging a canvas in his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Artist Liu Yi entering his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Artist Liu Yi standing before a painting showing an earthquake scene in his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Artist Liu Yi poses before paintings showing the faces of Tibetan self-immolators at his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Beijing-based artist Liu Yi pauses in front of his painting of Tibetans at his studio in Songzhuang art village in Tongzhou, on the outskirt of Beijing. Mr Liu is working on a series of black-and-white portraits he knows will never be shown in a Chinese gallery. His varied subjects - men and women, young and old, smiling and pensive - have one thing in common: They are Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest repressive Chinese rule. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
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Beijing-based artist Liu Yi paints a portrait of a Tibetan who has self-immolated over the past three years, at his studio in Songzhuang art village in Tongzhou, on the outskirt of Beijing. Mr Liu is working on a series of black-and-white portraits he knows will never be shown in a Chinese gallery. His varied subjects - men and women, young and old, smiling and pensive - have one thing in common: They are Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest repressive Chinese rule. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
Artist Liu Yi arranging a canvas in his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
Artist Liu Yi entering his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
Artist Liu Yi standing before a painting showing an earthquake scene in his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
Artist Liu Yi poses before paintings showing the faces of Tibetan self-immolators at his studio on the outskirts of Beijing. Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio, dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire. -- PHOTO: AFP
Beijing-based artist Liu Yi pauses in front of his painting of Tibetans at his studio in Songzhuang art village in Tongzhou, on the outskirt of Beijing. Mr Liu is working on a series of black-and-white portraits he knows will never be shown in a Chinese gallery. His varied subjects - men and women, young and old, smiling and pensive - have one thing in common: They are Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest repressive Chinese rule. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
Beijing-based artist Liu Yi paints a portrait of a Tibetan who has self-immolated over the past three years, at his studio in Songzhuang art village in Tongzhou, on the outskirt of Beijing. Mr Liu is working on a series of black-and-white portraits he knows will never be shown in a Chinese gallery. His varied subjects - men and women, young and old, smiling and pensive - have one thing in common: They are Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest repressive Chinese rule. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
BEIJING (AFP) - Stacked up in Mr Liu Yi's studio dozens of China's most sensitive subjects stare out from thick black-and-white oil paintings, from victims of Tiananmen Square to Tibetans who have set themselves on fire.
Mr Liu, 50, is a rare example of a member of China's Han ethnic majority taking up the Tibetan cause - a project that has finally brought the authorities to his door.
More than 100 Tibetans have set themselves alight, around 90 dying, to protest against what many call Beijing's oppressive rule, but most Han Chinese accept the government's stance that it has brought development and is combating tragic acts of violence.
"What they want is simply freedom of religion, of faith, and respect," said Mr Liu, in a spare brick-walled studio at his home in an artists' community in eastern Beijing.
