Mongolia in Northampton

I’m gearing up for the March series of events at Smith College about Mongolia. There will be a Buddhism in Mongolia conference from March 27th to March 29th and a Kahn Institute short-term project on Chingiss Khan, affectionately labelled A Khan Kahn, is planned for late March to mid April. Top notch Mongolia-ists will be around, including Robert Thurman and Glenn Mullin. The most notable visitor may be Soyolma, who is Mongolia’s female artist of the year for 2008. Here’s Glenn Mullin’s video of Soyolma’s art.

Why does this concern The Coruscating Camera? Well, I’m trying to put together a Mongolia photography show. It turns out there are several students and alums from Smith who are photographers of Mongolia. As I am going through my Mongolia work from last spring and summer, there are several pictures from the Gobi that I like, but they have little to do with where they were made. Here’s one that could be from Cape Cod.

Pepsi on the Gobi

Museum Guard with Book

The above, from Ulanbaator, feels more Mongolian. I do have an odd aversion to pictures that are too obviously about place. I like pictures about people in place. For instance, this lady on the street in alligator pants seems fabulous.

These are some diaristic pictures from my two 2008 trips to Siberia, Mongolia and the Russian Far East. To see black and white work from Central Asia, look here.