The Xizang autonomous region has entered one of its most pleasant, travel-friendly seasons of the year. If he were still alive, artist Li Xiaoke would likely be strolling beneath the sun near the Potala Palace in Lhasa and sipping traditional sweet tea at a corner shop in the bustling Barkhor Bazaar. Or, he would join groups of people trekking the sacred mountains and lakes.
Li regarded Xizang as his "second hometown" and a spiritual sanctuary, says his wife, Liu Ying.
In the late 1980s, Li developed a deep connection with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. He traveled extensively in Xizang and highland areas in Qinghai and Gansu provinces, reaching the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai where the Yellow River originates, and the Tangula Mountains along the Qinghai-Xizang border, the source of the Yangtze River.
He journeyed to the highlands more than once a year. Yet, he often described it as a distant destination that remained just beyond reach, no matter how closely he attempted to approach it.
His effort to narrow that distance — which he believed represented change, loss and eternity — came to an end in April 2021, when he passed away at age 76.
Since then, his family has held a commemorative exhibition every spring at the Ke Space run by the Li Keran Art Foundation. Li hailed from a prominent artist family. His father, Li Keran (1907-89), is considered one of the foremost reformers of classical Chinese painting in the 20th century while his mother, Zou Peizhu (1920-2015), was a sculptor and dedicated educator.
This year, the Li family is presenting Far Horizons . The Wayfarer — In the Footsteps of Li Xiaoke, running until June 21 at the Culture and Art Center of Fangzhuang, nestled in a quiet neighborhood in southern Beijing.
The exhibition features dozens of snapshots Li Xiaoke took in the highland areas over nearly three decades, alongside prints and ink paintings. His images portray blooming peach trees and vast green fields beneath snowcapped mountains, riverside salt wells, and white-walled Tibetan-style homes perched along mountain slopes.
Li Xiaoke said photography allowed him to express how profoundly the plateau moved him spiritually, and that it was, in some ways, "no less significant than painting".
According to Liu, Li Xiaoke visited the plateau 34 times after his first trip at the age of 44.
"Every time he went there, he felt exhilarated and refreshed as if it were his very first time," she says.
She says that to capture the sublime beauty of the highlands, Li Xiaoke trekked for 11 days to reach the uninhabited land near the source of the Yangtze River. On a journey to the source of the Yellow River, he used a bicycle pump to inflate a car tire at an altitude of over 4,000 meters.
Through his lens, viewers are taken to Mount Kailash, also known as Mount Gang Rinpoche, in Ngari prefecture of Xizang, the mysterious ruins of the ancient Guge kingdom, and the Mount Qomolangma base camp, where silence and stillness define the world's highest peak.
Liu says he also built close friendships within local artistic and cultural circles during his stays in highland areas. He "worked tirelessly" to promote Tibetan art and culture by organizing exhibitions and training programs for local painters.
In the 1970s, Li Xiaoke spent much of his time accompanying his father on travels and public engagements. It was during an early expedition to the source of the Yangtze River with friends that he discovered his identity as an artist. His repeated journeys to the plateau also reflected his father's belief that "an artist should study two great books attentively — nature and tradition".
At the current exhibition, a large moving image is projected on a long wall, combining Li Xiaoke's paintings of snowy mountains and drifting clouds with footage of the artist walking alone along a snowy mountain trail, his back turned to the audience as he leaves footprints behind him.
"The snow-covered land is vast, boundless, and magnificently beautiful, yet stark and harsh. When one steps into it, one is inexplicably moved," Li Xiaoke once said.