Meet Tiffani Gyatso | Sacred Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tiffani Gyatso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffani, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My mom came from Germany, met my father in Brazil and i was born in São Paulo in 1981. What brought my parents together was the spiritual quest they had in common and when i turned 7 years old, they bought a land on the mountains and built a small community. It came a time we were 7 kids and all women were our mothers and males were our fathers. We had no electricity and i use to spend my day in the woods and riding my horse, which i really loved. Subjects like meditation or god was common, so it was natural for me to inquire my existence since very young which led me to move to India to study buddhist sacred arts. I was fortunate to be accepted as the first foreign woman at the Norbulingka Institute founded by H.H. the Dalai Lama and there i lived and studies for 3 years. When i returned to Brazil i worked on the murals of a tibetan temple for some years, until i felt the yearning to materialize my own imaginary world in paint. Immediately came out of my hands the image of horses which populated my canvas and i reconnected with the wild and natural life I had as a child. It unable me to follow a path of self investigation thru art contemplating my memories, my search, ancient symbols and nature. My upbringing definitely shaped my essence which i feel i can honour it with joy and gratitude feeling rooted in my family.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When i was young, to be an artist was the same as to be a god. I did not dare to wish it, but i never stop drawing and experimenting with paint. I followed my passion not daring to become an artist. I studied tibetan buddhist iconography in India and years later I went to another great passion which is Islamic sacred geometry in a school in UK. My artistic pursue was more connected to a self exploration on a spiritual dimension – i followed my curiosity discovering how man has created incredible gates and bridges between himself and the Invisible in all religions and different times and cultures. I went so deep and passionately that the only thing i knew what to do was to talk about it and the paint and so i became a full time artists.
I remember once in India, i was around 23 and someone asked me if i was an artist, i was so embarrassed that i said i was just an apprentice, which is true until today! But my friend who was next to me called my attention and said, “you are an artists! Can you say it? I am an artist – allow yourself, own it”. And for the first time in loud voice i saied “i am an artist” right away i felt power, direction and joy. I also understood, much later, that claim yourself an artist is not about mastering 100% a certain techniche or drawing everything in right proportion… but an artist is a way of seeing the world. I believe, all of us are artists, the way we cook, the way we walk, the way we love it’s all an expression of the ultimate sculpture which we are creating all the time: our selves. This is what it is to be an artist – it’s really like a god, creating and celebrating his own universe.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I travel a lot, but most of the time of the year I am at my home studio where i work mostly when I am not teaching around the world, so i am going to tell you about Brazil. Start in the big city of São Paulo.
During the day go for a walk to see people and nature at the Parque Ibirapuera. There are many museums inside the park – sometimes Bienalls are running there, and there is also the Afro Museum, Pavilhao Japones and the Oca.
Lunch at restaurant of the Ibirapuera Park, close to the Oca
Afternoon walk the Avenida Paulista, visit MASP
At night go to the street life and many little bars at Vila Madalena or go for a dance or theatre presentation of any SESC or cultural center, always very alive.

For nature, travel the Royal Road, from Paraty, RJ to Tirandentes and Ouro Preto, MG. I love these colonial places and the mountains of the country side and laid back places.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without the free and deep souls I encounter in my path, i wouldn’t be where I am today. First to HH the Dalai Lama, which inspired me to live and connect in a deep way to buddhism but also in a way i could think for myself, he gave me language to question my own mind. Thanks for my zen teacher, Alok Hsu Kwang-han, who taught me with great generosity his method of intuitive calligraphy in a way i could draw the sound of my soul and apply to my art and my way of thinking. I am grateful for my dance teacher Yumma Mudra and Michel Raji from Coreosophy University, who introduce ways to be more aware of my body and expression. Books that changed my life specially after i become a mother at 25 making me understand the whole new world of a woman, is Woman who run with the wolves, from Clarissa Pinkola.
A jewel of a book is “Letter to a Young Poet” from Raine Maria Rilke – it is a must. Poems from Fernando Pessoa, Rumi and Kathleen Raine always followed my life.

Website: www.tiffanigyatso.com

Instagram: tiffani_gyatso

Youtube: Tiffani Gyatso

Other: www.mandalasonline.com.br @mandalas_online @atelier_yabyum

Image Credits
I have the rights of all fotos