Lag Zo: Making on the Tibetan Plateau
A trilingual online exhibition about daily life of ethnic Tibetans in China
Close-up bronze work (2015-07-27) by Dawa DrolmaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Making is integral to the Tibetan story. From gilded thangkas to yak-hair shawls, the Tibetan Plateau is home to rich and diverse artisan traditions, including work by weavers, bronze artists, silversmiths, and potters.
However, making extends beyond traditional craftsmanship. Many farmers and herders, by virtue of their livelihoods, are also makers. These individuals often possess heritage knowledge and skills, such as making tents, string, or butter.
Man working on a thangka painting (2016-06-15) by Dawa DrolmaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Tibetan crafts also play important roles in city life. As urbanization transforms rural life, crafts are increasingly attractive sources of employment for young Tibetan city-dwellers.
Lag Zo: Making on the Tibetan Plateau is a trilingual online exhibition—in English, Chinese, and Tibetan—produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The exhibition draws in part from the vast archive of digital materials acquired by the Center through the community-driven research of the Nomad Material Culture Documentation Project and the Artisan Documentation Project. These materials document contemporary Tibetan life during what is widely recognized as the largest rural-to-urban migration in human history. The collection captures traditional livelihoods, as well as the various ways individuals and communities are adapting to rapid transformation. The exhibition employs a place-based approach by grounding the traditions of making in five key cultural and geographic contexts.
A tent in Zhün ha County, Qinghai Province (2016-05-10) by PuhuaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
In the Tent
The tents where Tibetan nomads live are extremely significant places for Making on the Tibetan Plateau. This section of the exhibition highlights the traditions for making tents from yak hair; making clothing from animal skins and fabrics; food from plants and animals; games to pass the time inside the tent; and the tent’s interior spaces according to gender roles and the division of labor.
These vital aspects of daily life reflect not only the appreciation and respect that Tibetan nomads show for their land, their animals, and their culture, but also the significance of family ties, community relations, and cultural continuity on the Tibetan Plateau. To learn more visit Lag Zo: In the Tent
Horse-racing festival in Ngaba Qiang, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (2016-08-06) by rGyalthar and Nathaniel SimsSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
On the Mountain
The Tibetan Plateau is widely known to the outside world as a place of mountains. The natural beauty of the Himalayas often overshadows the everyday culture of Tibetan nomads whose homes are in the mountains.
This section of the exhibition highlights the traditions for making boots, gathering wood and dung, herding animals, singing, carving mani stones, and racing horses. These aspects of daily life in the mountains reflect a reality that is often unknown to the outside world. To learn more visit Lag Zo: On the Mountain
Bronze sculpture (2015-06) by Dawa DrolmaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
In the Shrine
The practice of Tibetan Buddhism is central to nomadic life on the Tibetan Plateau—not only in the monasteries for which the region is justly famous, but also in the homes of individuals.
This section of the exhibition highlights some of the most important traditions associated with religious life and shrines: painting thangkas, sculpting bronze figures, silversmithing, goldsmithing, and pottery-making. These aspects of Making on the Tibetan Plateau are both diverse and essential to traditional culture. To learn more visit Lag Zo: In the Shrine
Chengdu City (2018) by WendekarSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
In the City
In the past twenty years, previously borderless valleys and mountains on the Tibetan Plateau have been carved up into small plots of private land, which have made herding and subsistence farming increasingly difficult. As a result, many rural Tibetans are moving to cities both large (like Beijing and Chengdu) and small (like Yushu) in search of work.
This section of the exhibition highlights some of the ways in which nomadic Tibetans are becoming city dwellers—seeking to maintain and sustain their traditions in a globalized cash economy. These Tibetans continue to “make,” whether it be in a folk arts center, restaurant, café, or music club. To learn more visit Lag Zo: In the City
Yaks in Sonak village (2016-05-15) by PuhuaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
On the Move
Human beings have always been on the move—often to seek new opportunities. The movements of individuals, families, and even entire communities impacts our identities, culture, and everyday lives.
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This section of the exhibition highlights two of the ways in which nomadic Tibetans are on the move: first with the logistics of moving camps according to different seasons; and then with the migration of Tibetans to Xining in western China, which is part of what some historians and demographers believe may be the largest migration in human history. To learn more visit Lag Zo: On the Move
Landscape in Dzongsar, Sichuan Province (2016-07-10) by Dawa DrolmaSmithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
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Special thank you to the contributors Dawa Drolma, Lhamo Drolma, Nathaniel Sims, Puhua, rGyalthar, Tsehua, Wendekar and Wuqi.
