Using footage from socialist-era Mongolia, this video art deals with the nomadic people’s transitioning from their traditional lifestyle into urbanization. We see the changing of roads over the years and the movement of people from all across the country to the cities. This forms a timeline of shifting physical and spiritual paths.

This work presents the roads taken and not taken by Mongolian nomads up until now.

For generations, the nomadic people of Mongolia moved from one site to another depending on the weather and the conditions for their animals. Before choosing which direction and their route, they would meditate, looking for guidance from the environment.

Although nomadic lifeways were part of Mongolian culture for thousands of years, recent urbanization and modernization is changing attitudes. Since 1920 and the rise of communism in Mongolia, people started to learn and embrace living in communities and neighborhoods. Thanks to socialist developments, rural Mongolians began flocking to the capital city for permanent settlement. With a settled way of living came the need to adapt behaviors, such as being responsible for public property, communication and coexisting with fellow citizens. All these posed great and novel changes for Mongolians; however, they also stayed true to nomadic values and consciousness.

The year 1989 brought democracy to young modern Mongolia, with the free market and a parliamentary system put in place for first time. This sudden transition shaped generations of Mongolians as they tried to adapt to yet another new system. This period also marked extreme social divisions and disparity. It’s safe to say that average Mongolians who came of age during that time have a different point of view, mentality and attitude compared to Millennials and Gen Z. Primary instincts, such as living in harmony with nature and having a deep respect for one’s natural surroundings, were forcefully replaced by having to think of society and common wealth in accordance with socialist dogmas and later capitalist machinations.

This was followed by democratic regulation of society, with human rights put at the center along with free will. Globalization and immediate connection to modern world though the internet, as well as travelling abroad, is the next highway for ever-changing Mongolian society.

I was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, thus I am well distanced from the nomadic mentality. Occasionally, this causes minor misunderstanding and differences between me and my friends; between cityfolk and countryfolk. The artwork here presents the changing roads and paths of Mongolian mentality from the perspective of city-born girl.