DARK CRANES, FLYING TOWARDS YOU

foreword of the book "I am Coming to you" by G Mend-Ooyo



The blue lake of dreams. You couldn't paint such a blue. On the banks of the lake, a few dark cranes. There's a woman with the cranes. You couldn't paint such a woman, but you also couldn't look directly upon her, her eyes are bright, her gaze hidden. In my sixteen year old's dream, the curtain of fate rises, this woman has come into the world, together with the cranes. The dream-woman would take my hand and lead me. The dark cranes were her vehicle. They are beyond the folds of white clouds in the dark blue sky, she says. You are my husband, she says, let us fly away.

“I am coming to you” poem in 30 languages

UNESCO announced that every year the March 21^st would be the World Poetry Day which is being celebrated for the 12^th time by Mongolian poets. This year a poetry and calligraphy exhibition called “Mother Earth” is being held for the occasion. Also, as part of the occasion and exhibition, an opening ceremony of a book which is a collection of 30 different translations of the poem “I am coming to you” by Mongolian poet Mend-Ooyo will be held at 15:30, on March 23^rd at the Mongolian National Modern Art gallery, the same place of the exhibition.

Various foreign language translations of the poem will be recited during the opening ceremony which will be attended by many cultural and literary figures of Mongolia.

Also on this special day, a message from the General-Director of UNESCO will be announced to the public.

Purpose of Mother Earth calligraphy exhibition

- Praise-poems for the ancestors
- The flowering of Mongolian calligraphy from Mother Earth
- The union of nature and language arts
- Poetry heard in pictures, pictures growing from poetry
- What can an artists do to save Mother Earth?

Thirty years ago, the poet G.Mend-Ooyo wrote a poem called "Mother Earth," for which the composer R.Enhbazar wrote music. Performed by the snger B.Badaruugan, this work connected with people's hearts, expressing the meaning of taking care of Mother Earth.

During the period of political change, human civilisation has sought progress on the one hand, and has laid waste on the other hand to the treasures of the earth, has thus been losing the ecological battle, and is now approaching the edge of extinction.

In such times, the ideas behind this poem "Mother Earth" are all the more valuable, they bring a connection between the human heart and Mother Earth, and they make us think about how we are all children to the same mother.
Global warming, the melting of the polar ice, sunned flash-floods, tidal waves, droughts, earthquakes, the destruction of wild banimals and beneficial trees and plants, and desertification all proceed from human error, and all are connected with the loss of the natural system by which the earth offers its riches without prejudice.

We must, then, consider the question as to how artists, living in today's world, might protect Mother Earth.
The poet G.Mend-Ooyo and the artist D.Battümör have developed an exhibition the written word, "Mother Earth" which directly addresses this theme. Their visual and poetic artworks express a unitedattitude towards the preservation of the earth and the natural world.

Another aspect of this exhibition is that, in addition to looking into the future, and by seeing in a clearer way the rich and valuable heritage which humans have chosen to abandon throughout their history, we can think about the importance and value of such things today.

"Mother Earth" will include calligraphic versions of some eighty of Mend-Ooyo's poems.
G.Mend-Ooyo's poetic work is joined with imags in brush and ink of the artist D.Battümör, revealing the new sensibilities of calligraphic and figurative art. The exhibition will also present the new traditions of Mongol calligraphy and language art.
The artistic work which comes from our heart are the plants of wisdom growing in our Mother Earth. People step upon the earth, they drink water and take nutrients from Mother earth through the plants, and so take in the riches. The two artists say that, with the work in this exhibition, they contribute the light of their hearts, they repay the kindness of Mother Earth.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR THE EXHIBITION "MOTHER EARTH"
March 18 2011 11:40 Opening of the exhibition "Mother Earth".
March 18-24 2011 9:00-17:00 Exhibition open to the public.
March 19 2011 15:30 Poetry reading
March 21 2011 15:30 Launch of the book I Am Coming to You, which presents this poem of Mend-Ooyo's in thirty languages.

MOTHER EARTH exhibition

An Exhibition of Calligraphy
March 18-23, 2011
Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia


On March 18th, the exhibition "Mother Earth" will open at the Mongolian National Modern Art gallery. Thirty years ago, the poet G.Mend-Ooyo wrote a poem called "Mother Earth," for which the composer R.Enhbazar wrote music. Performed by the snger B.Badaruugan, this work connected with people's hearts, expressing the meaning of taking care of Mother earth.
In this exhibition, G.Mend-Ooyo and the artist D.Battümör combine their work, and ask us to care for nature, our Mother Earth, through poetry and image. It has become a tradition that, every year works are exhibited from the collection of the Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry and thus year, apart from Mend-Ooyo's own pieces, there are also pieces, based upon Mend-Ooyo's poems, by the influential contemporary artist D.Battümör, in addition to some eighty of Mend-Ooyo's calligraphic manuscripts.
In addition to looking into the future, we are also drawn to consider the valuable objets of wisdom in the history of humanity, its lost cultural heritage, and the importance of acknowledgeing its value.
In this exhibition we will see how Mend-Ooyo's poetry, combined with Battümör's talent for calligraphic ink and brushwork, reveals a new direction for the art of images and words, and a contemporary approach to calligraphy and the tradition of Mongol language arts.
The artistic work which comes from our heart are the plants of wisdom growing in our Mother Earth. People step upon the earth, they drink water and take nutrients from Mother Earth through the plants, and so take in the riches. The two artists say that, with the work in this exhibition, they contribute the light of their hearts, they repay the kindness of Mother Earth.