LUAP’s work in Mongolia began with a journey through the country’s remote western landscape, where he set out to confront a lifelong fear of horses by learning to ride one. Travelling through the wilderness in temperatures falling to around -15°C, he placed himself in sustained physical contact with the very thing he had previously avoided.
The experience became the starting point for My Little Pony, a body of work whose title draws on childhood memories of the toy and the idealised world those memories represented. In Mongolia, that fantasy met the reality of being on horseback in an extreme landscape. Something once associated with toys, childhood and imagination became immediate, physical and unpredictable.
Photography made during the journey, including encounters with Mongolia’s Eagle Hunters and the surrounding landscape, became source material for later Paintings. Reworked through colour, scale, surface and mark-making, these images move away from straightforward documentation while retaining the physical experience of being there.
Embassy Of Mongolia
LUAP writes for the Embassy of Mongolia in the UK about travelling through western Mongolia with The Pink Bear, reflecting on the physical demands of the journey, the landscape and the experience of making Photography in remote conditions.
LUAP writes for Diplomat Magazine’s special publication marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Mongolia, reflecting on his horseback journey through western Mongolia with The Pink Bear and the Photography created along the way.
LUAP writes for DPReview about travelling for ten days on horseback through western Mongolia to create new Photography with The Pink Bear, combining the physical demands of the expedition with a desire to document the landscape and its changing traditions.
In my most recent adventure, I embarked on a journey across Mongolia that spanned 10 days, all on horseback, with the sole purpose of capturing new photographic artworks featuring The Pink Bear. This remote and uninhabited landscape, steeped in tradition yet facing the encroachment of modernity, served as the perfect backdrop for my mission.
