Meeting Harriet Tubman
A reflection on an in-progress thangka piece
Reading time: About 6 minutes
When Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls, a dharma teacher I’ve practiced with for many years, reached out to me about making a thangka of Harriet Tubman, I did not hesitate to say yes.
Learning the sadhana Dr. Smalls has developed,1 and engaging in depicting Tubman as a Bodhisattva feels like a natural next step in my practice. Dr. Smalls, a Black American, and me, a white and Métis Canadian, have very different relationships with Tubman as a historical figure and ancestor. The different views we each bring to this piece of art informs what we are making together — Dr. Smalls as the author of the sadhana (which includes a description of Tubman in a Bodhisattva form), and me as a self-taught Thangka artist engaged in visual art as a tool for practice and engagement with my commitment to collective liberation.
