Updating Yamantaka

Yamantaka is the Lord of Death and the King of the Law in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He and his sister, Yami, stand astride a buffalo that is assaulting a human. In this collage—which combines pieces of sacred text, textile design, and vivid color with traditional Tibetan imagery—Yamantaka is depicted with iconographic exactness except for the human below the buffalo. Typically an anonymous everyman, this figure is given the distinctly recognizable face of Osama bin Laden. The traditional composition is meant to symbolize the absolute power of death over all forms of life—the inescapable laws of mortality and morality. By coyly inserting a reference to global terrorism, Rigdol applies the concepts captured in the traditional depiction of Yamantaka to our world.