Tibet Through the Red Box

When Peter Sis unlocked the red laquered box that sat on his father’s desk for decades, he found the diary his father kept when he was sent to Tibet in the 1950s to instruct the Chinese in documentary filmmaking. Amongst the experiences Vladimir Sis recorded included becoming lost after a landslide, trekking to Lhasa and meeting the young Dalai Lama. In Tibet: Through the Red Box, Peter Sis juxtaposes these journal records with childhood recollections of his father’s tales of Yetis, magical messengers and a Boy-God-King. Sis replicates the diary’s spidery handwriting and illustrates his father’s fantastical adventures with exquisite, intricately stylised artwork. In this very personal book, Peter Sis fuses captivating details and mystical elements of the Tibetan culture with dreams, memory and imagination.