I first encountered the concept of feminist architecture in an art history class, where we discussed how feminist ideas can be expressed through architectures and interior space. For this exhibition, I wanted to explore how I might reconcile my dual identity as both Mongolian and a feminist, so I chose to begin with the yurt. The yurt has historically been the space where Mongolian women spent most of their daily lives: on the one hand, it confined women within the domestic sphere; yet on the other hand, the circular structure that it has has often been interpreted through Western theoretical frameworks as embodying feminist qualities. With these tensions in mind, I wanted to use myself to overturn the traditional image of “Mongolian women inside the yurt.”


I hand-stitched a yurt of my own. Unlike the traditional appearance of a yurt, I patchworked together a variety of fabrics I personally love, and created an entirely new exterior. On the top of the yurt, I projected a video of my room, along with a series of objects that I feel represent me: the small car models I have, my teddy bear, and the shop sign “She-Wolf,” which I stumbled upon by chance but immediately felt captured something essential about me (a homophone of the Chinese word nvlang, meaning “chic lady,” but here replaced with the wildness of “wolf”).


I hope to reinterpret the meaning of the yurt through the perspective of a feminist. Projected from inside the yurt is another one of my works, Branding #1. In that piece, a woman press a branding iron marked with the word “woman” against their own skin, but over time the imprint gradually fades and eventually disappears.


我是在一节艺术史课上第一次接触到“女性主义建筑”这个概念，讨论的是如何通过建筑以及室内空间来体现女性主义。因为在这个展览中，我想探讨如何和解我作为蒙古人和女性主义者的双重身份，所以我选择从蒙古包入手。蒙古包曾是蒙古女性日常中停留时间最长的空间：一方面，它把女性限制在家庭内部；但另一方面，蒙古包的圆形结构在西方理论中又常常被赋予女性主义的特质。因此我想通过自己来颠覆“蒙古女人在蒙古包中”这一传统意象。


我手工缝制了一个蒙古包。不同于日常的蒙古包外观，我把各种自己喜欢的布料拼接在了一起，组成一个新的外表。蒙古包的顶部则投射着我的房间，以及一系列我认为能代表我的物件：比如我喜欢的小汽车模型、小熊玩偶，和我偶然看到、却意外俘获我的店名“女狼”（谐音中文的“女郎”，但把原本“贵气女性”的意涵替换成“狼”的野性）。


我希望以一个女性主义者的身份来重新定义蒙古包。从蒙古包内部投射出去的，是我的另一件作品《烙印 #1》。在那件作品里，女性把写有“女性”字样的烙印印在自己的身体上，但随着时间的流逝，女性的印迹渐渐淡去，完全消失。