(CNN) -- They lined up hundreds strong to touch the dirt. Some fell to their knees, clutching the gritty stuff as though it were a long-lost child. Others lifted it to their lips to savor a taste of the home they left behind decades ago. Exiles -- who face never returning to Tibet as long as it is under Chinese rule -- stood on Tibetan soil this week, fulfilling a desire that has burned within since they fled westward across the Himalayas. Only, this week, they were able to do it in Dharamsala, the Indian hilltown that functions as the de facto capital of the refugee community.
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Tibetans who long to see their homeland were able to touch native soil again
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Artist Tenzing Rigdol smuggled the soil in sacks from Tibet to India
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The dirt was spread on a stage so Tibetans could walk on it
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Rigdol's father died without ever seeing Tibet again
He invited @placeholder to walk on his dirt, write on it or pick up a microphone to express themselves.
There was no overt political statement in Rigdol's art, but some @placeholder hoped it would inspire resistance to Chinese rule.