Artists Respond to the Mongolia Steppes

different springs have different waters, different places have different traditions[i] - Булаг булгийн ус ондоо , Газар газрын ёс ондоо

-Mongolian proverb

One of few nomadic cultures left on the planet, traditional Mongolian life on the steppes has declined over the last half century, particularly in the last decade. Both modernization and extreme weather fluctuations caused by global warming have been the key contributing factors in the slow eradication of this traditionally rooted culture. People have lived and raised animals for several millennia on the steppes, from the Persian Khwarezm state dating back to the 13th century BCE (comprised of areas now in Kazakhstan and Turkenistan), to Xiongnu (150 BCE) of Inner Mongolia to the Golden Horde of the Caucasus Mountains in the 14th century. Present day shepherds who work and live on the steppes are descendants of a combination of these tribes, and other Caucasian, Asian and Eastern European regions; their lives are rich in art, crafts and song deeply rooted in a strong connection with the land.

Artists Respond to the Mongolia Steppes is a recent group show installation in the tri-annual Art Salon at Under the Willow. The Salon featured work that collectively open a dialog about this ancient culture that has lasted millennia, and its uncertain future.

Upon entering the Salon, a video of a Mongolian shepherd named Tseveng is projected larger than life on the wall adjacent to the window. His weatherworn and darkly tan face shows his history of a nomadic life outdoors, traveling miles and miles of Mongolian steppes, herding sheep and raising the animals for their wool, cashmere, milk and hides as well as a source of food. Standing in a vast field of tall tan grasslands and clear blue sky filled with delicate clouds overhead, dressed in a traditional bright red coat with intricate embroidered gold patterns, sheep graze and romp in the background. Suddenly, his voice begins to carry a soulful and harmonic a cappella melody[ii] throughout the Salon.

Recording engineer and producer Dimitri Staszewski has been archiving the music of Mongolia since 2013 when he started the Mongol Music Archive while studying music industry business at Loyola University in New Orleans.[iii] “While traditional music will remain part of Mongolian culture with or without nomadic herding,” Staszewski says, “these performances exhibit something that staged performances by professional musicians cannot— herders sing about actions they carry out on a daily basis, the environment they inhabit, and use songs as tools to calm and train their animals.” In 2015 he received a Fulbright Fellowship through a program with mtvU designed specifically for music scholars. For the Fellowship, he spent a year in the Mongolian steppe filming and recording the tradition of Mongolian storytelling through song.

Oral storytelling continues to be a traditional art form passed down from generations. However, as with many cultures, there are increasingly lesser numbers of younger Mongolian people continuing in the shepherd trades of their families. As a result, there is the slow erosion of customs, skills, language and song.

Nearby in the Salon entryway are photographs titled Symmetrical and Close Clouds (2017) by San Francisco based photographer, Andrew Moore. Framed in a group on a single mat, the vibrant blue skies awash with serene cloud studies mimic the skies seen in Staszewski’s videos. The photographs offer visitors to the space a poignant comparison that symbolically ties the work together.

Across the room are mixed media textiles by Mongolian artist Munkhtsetseg “Mugi” Jalkhaajav, curated in the Salon by curator and historian Uranchimeg “Orna” Tsultem, based in Berkeley. Jalkhaajav’s background is in costume and set design, which she studied in Russia at the Academy of Fine Art in Minsk. Sewing is evident in all of her works. On two different linen panels, collaged fabric, paint and objects are adhered to the surface using sewing techniques and both traditional and contemporary art-making methods. The painted female figures, and appliqued birds and flowers echo the sentiment of her personal relationship with nature and its generative and inspirational qualities.

Jalkhaajav describes her practice as one that draws from the energy of nature, as noted in the titles of the work, I am Taking Energy from Flowers (2012), Song of Healing Bird and I am Taking Power from Birds (2011). In an interview for her 2012 solo exhibition at Schoeni Gallery in Hong Kong[iv] she describes her process as a form of healing. In 2015 Jalkhaajav participated in the Mongolian Pavilion in conjunction with the Venice Biennale, “Personal Structures: Crossing Borders” exhibition—the first time Mongolian artists have been represented in the event’s history.

Also included at Under the Willow is a silver lame soft sculpture by Jalkhaajav, of a small child-like figure gazing into a mirror. The figurative details are sewn in a piece-work style with pronounced stitching that creates pinched texture around the fingers, toes, ears and joints of the arms and legs as well as across the chest and on top of the head. The thick workmanship and exposed threads imply repair was done to a once whole and seamless body. The title Who was I? (2010) in conjunction with its infant form seem to hint at the concept of growth and renewal over time, or the experience of hardship from which one heals. She often finds herself compelled to continue working on the sculpture, even after she has decided it is finished—an unbeknownst process that she is still discovering the answers for.

Covering the adjacent windows of the room are two cascading textiles by Janice Arnold, titled With the Water of One Hundred Streams (2010).[v] At 13 feet tall, each panel works in harmony with the terraced garden outside, surrounded by leafy and sculptural specimen plants, such as Clianthus, known as Parrot’s Bill, itself a plant endangered in the wild, maiden hair ferns, Australian Tree Ferns and the large willow tree with its enveloping canopy after which the space is named.

The piece is created using merino wool, mohair and human hair that is felted together using traditional Mongolian methods. Felting involves forming surfaces and patterns through a process called “needling” that uses water and a special needle “brush” that catches the fibers, slowly tangling or meshing them together; the technique uses no sewing, but is rather a way of conjoining very finite elements, like the soft tufts of lamb’s wool or the shimmering strands of delicate silk to create a larger whole.

Arnold developed her knowledge of the felting techniques by working directly with nomadic tribes in Central Asia and Mongolia. Traditional Mongolian designs include abstracted representations of leather vessels, crow’s claw or ram’s horn; these abstractions are akin to American quilting symbols such as “log cabin,” “morning star,” “basket,” or other floral pictorials. Much of Arnold’s larger works are contemporary interpretations of nomadic habitats, such as yurts combined with subject matter derived from ancient song, dance or poetry. For the Water pieces, the patterns created are calligraphic drawings that emulate the prayers that Mongolian craftspeople chant while they are making the felt for their yurts, blankets, padding and other objects for daily use. Arnold’s process and the installation incorporating the outside view is in keeping with the care and mission of the space that Gary Schefsky—founder of Under the Willow Salon has created here: a residential experience, where nature and design are meshed with opportunities for guests to experience art outside the confines of the commercial or formal art display.

In all, the works address the relationships between humans and the psychological, spiritual and deeply committed rituals and traditions that inhabit the daily lives of Mongolian traditional cultures that are both influenced and dependent on the plant and animal life that they share with the planet. Recently the space was visited by several delegates from the Mongolian Government and Counselor officers, including the country’s Foreign Minister. Their visit was evidence of the commitment to furthering awareness of Mongolia and its ancient traditions, to bridge modern Mongolia to a technology and environmentally sustainable future, and to support the mission of the Salon as an environment to experience art.

From left to right: (Curator, Uranchimeg “Orna” Tsultem, Counsel General of Mongolia, San Francisco, Erdene Saldan, Under the Willow Host, Gary Schefsky , MP and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bold Luvsanvandan, unidentified Government Official from Mongolia).

[i] Janice Raymond, Mongolian Proverbs: A Window Into their World, Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 54.

[ii] Tsevengdorj, Gandii mod (The Gandii Tree), video, 3:04, 2013.

[iii] http://mongolmusicarchive.com/video-content/

[iv] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L4ZN6B7icM

[v] http://www.jafelt.com/palaceyurt.html