Vesna A. Wallace

The proposed project consists of two parts. The first part focuses on the study of the relationship between Mongolian Buddhist texts, artistic images, and rituals; and the second part includes a study of the contemporary Mongolian Buddhist art through which the new meanings, ethics, and power of Buddhist themes are articulated in the post-communist Mongolia. By studying both, the traditional and contemporary Buddhist art, we intend to show the ways in which Buddhist images in Mongolia have occupied multiple positions and identities, performed multiple functions in the given social and historical periods, and how they exhibited their capacities to induce new directions in artistic expression and viewing of religious images.