I have been working through my mother Jeanette Snyder's papers -- including a cash of drawings, and strips of contact sheet photographs (many that were never developed and for which the negatives disappeared many years ago) on her research of the Tibetan Lhamo in 1964. She rote a wonderful article "The World Beneath the Tents" which included an account of this long summer's day in Darjeeling, India, beneath the Mahabharat Range, watching the Lhamo actors perform their folk operas. It is a wonderful article and so many of the well known actors she saw on that day (and who are in the accompanying photographs) have long since died.
But in all those photographs, I couldn't find one of her -- until now. I took another look at the thin strips of photographs with their tiny black frames with a frenzy of activity occurring within them. I had to squint and then finally scan them in order to see them more clearly in photoshop. And then -- there she was at number 18 -- not her full face, for of course her eyes were fixed forward on the drama unfolding before her, but I know her braid, her bangs, the curve of her cheek resting against her fist. Here is the strip of photos -- so you can see her watching the play. As I did, you will need to click the image to see a larger version. I think this was one of the happiest days of her life.
And I found these too -- field drawings of what she saw -- perhaps just in case the photos didn't turn out.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....
