Lhasa is Far away, America is Far Away
Qiu Zhijie
Performance, photography
2007
From 2006 to 2007, Qiu Zhijie completed his journey from Lhasa to Katmandu in Tibet . It was a huge project combining history, geography, engaging with the idea of the individual and everyday necessities. Qiu Zhijie started producing this work during this journey. This work was completed along with another work titled ' Lajia Railway Project '. This work on display can be considered a part of the ' Lajia Railway Project '. For this project Qiu utilized ten special Mani ' stones, which are used as name boards distributed along the railway from Lhasa to Katmandu. Qiu Zhijie has written two sentences on each Mani stone replacing the stop names: Lhasa is far away from here and America is far away from here . These two sentences are taken from an English textbook of a primary school in Tibet , and are carved onto each Mani stone by Tibetans who live in the foothills of the Medicine Emperor Mountain . Qiu placed nine of these stones at nine stops on the way from Lhasa to Katmandu :
Lahasa Medicine Emperor Mountain; 29 39' 04.22 N,91 06' 22.73 E,elev 3652m
The Highway of Chhushu county; 29 21' 06.02 N 90 42' 16.49 E ,elev 3588m
Pelkor Chode Stupa in Gyangze Zone; 28 55' 29.85 N,89 35' 39.57 E,elev 4020m
Back of the Cha-shih-lun-pu temple in Xigaze; 2 16' 16.47 N,88 52' 17.48 E, elev 3869m
The West site of Sakya Temple; 28 54' 20.74 N, 88 00' 56.09 E, elev 4318m
Entrance of the Road to Moute Everest in Tingri countyt; 28 35' 22.51 N 86 32' 22.51 E elev 4341m
Nyalam Lalung La Pass; 28 30' 29.03 N 86 08' 46.41 E elev 5004m
the garret at the police station in Zangmu Port; 27 59' 23.30 N 85 58' 55.62 E elev 2240m
Kate Xinbu temple at the old city zone in Katmandu. 27 42' 34.49 N 85 98' 34.95 E elev 1315m
Nowadays, these Mani stones with these written sentences have probably been mixed with otherstones, or have disappeared and started their own journey in everyday life in Tibet . Qiu carriedthe last Mani stone to Beijing for this exhibition. However, wherever these stones exist, they are far away from Lhasa and far away from America as well. Qiu Zhijie metaphorically emphasizes the perpetual distance between current location and any determined site of feeling.
