Woven Wonders of Mongolia

Hello! My name is Kim Dupont - Madinier and I would like to share with you about my Fulbright Research Project in Mongolia! 

Starting in late September 2017 I will be moving to Mongolia for a year to study Gers, which are nomadic fabric housing typologies that are local to Mongolia. These textile homes are also known in the West as Yurts. 

Throughout my research project I will be living in five distinct regions of the country - studying how cultural traditions and practices evolve differently around the textile housing typology.

Beginning in Ulaanbataar, the capital of Mongolia, I will be conducting interviews and documenting the lifestyle of the nomad families living in the Ger Districts of Ulaanbataar. These families have migrated to the capital and sought to adapt to the sendentary lifestyle of a modern urban environment. During this time I will be working with GerHub, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to understanding and solving some of the most pressing health and polutions issues in the ger areas. 

Following Ulaanbataar, I will live in the West of Mongolia living in Bayan-Ulgii, where nomad communities in this region have cultivated a heritage of hunting with Eagles. 

Next, I will be living with the Dukha people, which are a small Tuvan Turkic comminity of reindeer herders living in northern Mongolia.

Then I will be going East to the Dornod region to live in with another nomad community.

And finally, I will go south, and live in the Gobi Desert with a Nomad community that herds two humped camels. 

After traveling around the country I will return to Ulaanbataar and co-teach an architecture course at The Institute of Engineering and Technology in order to design and prototype a new more insulated Ger with my students.

Throughout my time in Mongolia I will be making a wide variety of art work - which is where I need your support. As I'm conducting interviews and participating in the local tradtions, I will document the varying practices surrounding the unique lifestyles of each community and how they have adapted to their independent geographies with their own textile housing typologies. 

As a result, I will need a wide variety of art supplies and monetary support to not only gift and thank the different Nomad families I will be living with, but also to provide supplies for the students I will be teaching in the Spring. 

Your support means the world to me because not only does it enable me to document my experience in a unique and creative way - but enables me to equally support and thank the different families who have generously invited into their homes. 

What I can offer in return is a shared experience- where you can follow my adventure at ouestlamongolie.com and depending on your donation I can send you handmade postcards, original illustrations, paintings, and many more oeuvres that I would love to send your way.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my research project - it has been  four years in the making, and is truly a dream come true.

Please note - for those of you who make a donation, here are some goodies I can offer in return:

50 $  -  Hand made postcard sent to you from Mongolia 

100 $ - Hand made drawings/paintings of landscape (which will be sent to your home upon my return to Europe and/or the United States depending on your address)

150 $ - Hand made portait of individuals I will be meeting and interviewing throughout my journey (which will be sent to your home upon my return to Europe and/or the United States depending on your address)

200 $ - Drafted architectural drawings of textile housing typologies (which will be sent to your home upon my return to Europe and/or the United States depending on your address)