Artist Profiles

Qin Ga

(born 1971 in Inner Mongolia) Qin Ga's “Miniature Long March” comes out of the Long March Project, curated by Lu Jie and Qiu Zhijie. The project is unique in its conception, scope and approach. Along the historic route of Chairman Mao's legendary Long March, various artists participated in a series of events showing their works. The aim, according to the two curators, is to "bring art to those people who live in communities along the route of Mao Zedong's historic Long March," as well as its symbolic delivery of revolutionary ideals to the Chinese people. Artist Qin Ga participated in the project from Beijing by remotely following the Long March team’s movements. The artist first tattooed a map of China onto his back, and then would tattoo each new site that the Long March team would arrive at in its respective position on the map, permanently leaving behind each route and site. When the Long March team declared a temporary stop to the project on September 2002, at! Site 12 (Luding Bridge, Sichuan Province), Qin Ga’s tattoo work also stopped. Through a small needle, the 25000 li (6,000 mile) Long March was miniaturized onto Qin Ga’s back. His body is both an artwork and a Long March object, combining together elements of history, and collective and individual memory.

Other Works By This Artist [ click to view larger images ]