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Sonam Dolma Brauen

Sonam Dolma Brauen
200805-sonamdolma 188.jpg
Sonam Dolma Brauen at her studio in 2008
Born Sonam Dolma
(1953-01-01)1 January 1953
Kongpo, Tibet (now Kongpo, Tibetan Autonomous Region, China)
Residence Bern, Switzerland
Nationality Tibetan-Swiss
Other names Sonam Dolma Wangmo
Education Art School Bern
Occupation Contemporary painter, sculptor
Years active 1982–
Spouse(s) Martin Brauen
Website www.sonambrauen.net

Sonam Dolma Brauen (born 1953) is a Tibetan-Swiss contemporary painter and sculptor. Her paintings, sculptures and installations are exhibited in Germany, Italy, in the Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland and in the USA.

Sonam Dolma was born in Kongpo, Tibet (today Kongpo, Gongbo'gyamda County, Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibetan Autonomous Region, China), the daughter of Kunsang (Mola) Wangmo, a former Bhikkhuni, and Tsering. The family left eastern Tibet when the 14th Dalai Lama refuged in 1959 to Dharamsala in northern India, crossing the Himalayas on foot. Sonam's father and her younger sister died on the journey. 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.

Sonam 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 in Manhattan, New York City; her studio was located in Long Island City. Thenafter she stayed for a while in the USA, in Korea, Italy and went back to Switzerland.


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