“Mother Earth is 'A' Story We Inherit”Chrisel Attwell’s Solo Exhibition – CURATOR’S REPORT

Curator: E. Ulziibat

“Live in this world as simple as a child, as vast as a mountain.”These are the words my grandmother used to tell me.

Chrisel Attwell, too, inherited both the inspiration and the roots of becoming an artist from her grandmother. Her works are deeply infused with the wisdom and values passed down by her ancestors.

When she came to Mongolia, galloping on horseback against the steppe winds, traveling, and creating performance art, we were convinced of one thing:“Her planned exhibition will not only connect continents and countries geographically, but also bring together human emotions with the Earth and the process of healing.”

Chrisel is an artist who seeks to express the essence of goodness through her work.

FRAGILITY AND HEALING

Before the exhibition, Chrisel gave a public lecture about how artists confront, remember, and heal the deep scars left by Africa’s history of resource extraction and colonialism through the power of art.

In her talk “Far and Wide: Art and Culture from the South” she introduced the core themes and underlying motivations behind her own works and those of other African artists.

Through her art, she demonstrates that seeking revenge, harboring resentment toward history, or blaming others is not true enlightenment. She also connects the Earth’s peculiar geological formations, mountains that seem to tell stories and rocks that bear history, with the beauty of nature reflected in her work.

Just like nature itself, untouched, pristine, breathing.“Isn’t it true that valuable and beautiful things are precisely what illuminate us and fill us with joy?”

Chrisel also highlighted Otobong Nkanga’s performance piece of swallowing a sharp-edged stone, which profoundly struck the audience. In that work, the artist embodied the sorrow and wounds of landscapes, cultures, traditions, and people lost to mining, as if cutting her own throat with grief.

In Mongolia, too, issues surrounding natural resources are plainly visible in our daily lives. Everyone responds differently, some resist, some accept, some ignore, some even justify.

However, Africa stands as a deeper, more tragic reality, born of pain that transcends all of this.

Chrisel also shared how local communities there have even forgotten the names of their mountains and rivers, and have begun asking forgiveness from them. This revelation drove us into profound reflection:“Haven’t we too already begun sliding down that very path?”

This question is not only about mining and extraction - it is also a warning about the future we are stepping into when humans betray nature, failing to see or understand that betrayal.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

The exhibition, opened after Chrisel’s lecture, seemed to call us back into nature.

Especially the experience of entering a dark cave and gradually encountering light evoked countless inner responses, like the facets of a crystal - multi-angled, sparkling.

Light can only be understood through darkness. A person only begins to truly know themselves when they look inward and face the depths of their own unconscious.From there, the quest begins.

This exhibition is about that very journey - the search for, recognition of, and discovery of the boundless treasures of nature.

It not only reveals the distinctive features of the Southern, and Northern continents’ cultures, arts, and worldviews, but also brings forth their shared radiance.

Viewing Chrisel’s works gives the impression that she relates to nature just as she would to her grandmother.

Her approach - treating Mother Nature as a living, conscious being - is a value she inherited.

Mother Earth - a living consciousness, She is like our grandparents. She sustains us, nourishes us, carries the weight of our long lives and histories, and gives us light.

Every culture names this relationship in different ways, yet the same spirit and feeling reside in rituals such as raising stones on a sacred cairn to wish for blessings.

This exhibition is not about tearing open the Earth, severing nature’s veins and sinews. It is about the quest to feel our humanity, the art of being human, and to recognize ourselves as the offspring of a humane nature.

Not to call upon misfortune or suffering - but to engage with the mountain as a mountain, to love it,to respect the weight of every stone and the crystal within it, to awaken to the purifying love of Mother Nature.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the team of OiR ART HUB, who co-organized the exhibition, public lecture, and all related events.

If you haven’t had the chance to see this exhibition in person, please experience it online: https://www.oirarthub.org/