Hunters, Warriors, Spirits
Nomadic Art of North China
The catalogue was published for the exhibition Hunters, Warriors, Spirits: Nomadic Art of North China, at the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, July 23rd, 2022-October 23rd, 2022.
The ancient nomads of North China were hunters, warriors, as well as traders, who facilitated the exchange of goods, technology, ideas, and arts; most important, they were builders of empires. Living a highly mobile life, wedded to chasing game and herding flocks of animals, they left behind an expressive artistic legacy, showing men and beasts, predators and prey, culture and nature, interlocked in a perpetual cycle of life and death. Their world is vividly represented in their artistic heritage, imbued with a profound spirituality, one evoking an ideal relationship between humans and nature that is more relevant today than ever before.
Accompanying the first large-scale and comprehensive exhibition on nomadic art in Hong Kong, the catalogue tells the story of the nomads, and the evolution of their art over three millennia. Through the five essays and the 250 objects, the catalogue traces nomadic art from its beginnings in the 1st millennium B.C.E to the golden age of nomadic art during the Liao dynasty (between 10th and 13th centuries). Edited by Mr. Hing Chao and Isabelle Frank, the various authors provide an overview of this artistic development through the lenses of archaeology, art history, and anthropology, placing it within the broader context of cultural exchanges across Eurasia. The catalogue concludes with an examination of the sculpture of a contemporary Buryat artist, Dashi Namdakov, whose works draw on the tradition of his nomadic forebearers.
