The Mongolian lens: encounters through photography while exploring Mongolian herder communities in transition

The human act of taking a photograph is a conscious, intuitive, and expressive process that intertwines culture, identity, and notions of personal self-representation. Since the early days of photography in Mongolia, herder communities have been the subject and object for colonial and contemporary photographers and tourists seeking the exotic. However, since the introduction of the photograph, the herders have found ways to interact within the photography event and use the photograph for their own cultural means. This research explores the uses of photography among today’s Mongolian herder community and how it connects with the past. It also explores the roles of photographer and subject and how they contribute to concepts of representation and archetype. The research seeks to understand how photography has helped Mongolian herder communities connect with their traditional lifestyles while negotiating transitions to urban lifestyles in large cities. Furthermore, it explains how both international and Mongolian viewpoints have contributed to the visual stereotyping of the herder. In seeking to understand and to situate the project, I pose the following central research question, and two subsidiary questions: How can an image-based collaborative project explore the historical and contemporary practices and uses of photography and portraiture in the ger district Mongolian herder communities? In what ways can the contemporary photographs of Mongolian herders reveal a desire to continue family traditions? How has this research developed and changed my own photographic practice? To answer these questions, I first study a sample of photographs of Mongolian subjects taken by foreigners in Mongolia in the 19th and 20th centuries. The research also includes deconstructing my own professional practice and that of my peers. In exploring the roles of photographic practices in Mongolian herder communities, I used participation practices in the research, enlisting the help of 12 families as case studies. I provided each family with a camera and, with the aid of photovoice interviews, collated their photographs and examined them to establish patterns and connections. My research found that the Mongolian herder community in the ger district adapted photography for their own personal needs, and used the visual communication of the photograph to retain and pass on certain traditions, intertwining cultural identity and self-representation. I found that for this herder community, photography was largely informed by a past studio practice; one that sees the role of the pose in portraiture as significant, establishing a tradition connecting the contemporary with the past. I also learnt that photography is an effective medium for enduring and perpetuating the Mongolian herder archetype. The findings of my research indicate that photography plays an important role in wider representations of Mongolian herder communities. In particular, it establishes the importance of portraiture and, in particular, the pose, and demonstrates how the elements of photography – particularly the photographer and the sitter – play a key role in continuing the Mongolian herder archetype. To the best of my knowledge, there are no substantive studies of the photographic practices and uses of photographs in Mongolia herder communities. My research seeks to examine this area, contributing valuable insights into and knowledge of the Mongolian culture of photography, the uptake of photography and specific photographic practices in a case study group of displaced Mongolian herder families. It also aims to start a wider discussion of a Mongolian aesthetics in photography, and provide a place for significant indigenous expression and reception within the global understanding of cultures and images. My research also expands knowledge into collaborative art practices, reimagining the act of photography as a shared experience and the photograph as a space for multiple participants.