Munkhtsetseg Jalkhaajav (Mugi) is a Mongolian interdisciplinary artist working across performance, painting, soft sculpture, scenography and installation. She studied painting at the Mongolian Fine Art College and continued her studies in theatre scenography in Minsk, Belarus. Concepts of healing and protection serve as a base for her works to elaborate into imbalance in the human and nature correlation, examining traditional ways of looking at gender, interconnections between woman's body and traditional healing rituals. Her work engages the body as a fragile and shifting form, where human, animal, and symbolic elements intersect, often unfolding interconnected synchronicity that is yet to be discovered.
Represented Mongolia at the 59th Venice Biennale, 2022.
Education
1983–1987 — Fine Art College, Ulaanbaatar
1989–1993 — Academy of Fine Art, Minsk, Belarus
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026 — Changes Under My Skin, R.A.R.O. On-Site Projects, Barcelona, Spain
2026 — The Alchemy of the Gazelle's Dream, R.A.R.O. Barcelona, Swab Art Fair, Ephemeral — public program, Barcelona, Spain
2025 — A Journey Through Vulnerability part 2, Zanabazar Fine Art Museum, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2022 — A Journey Through Vulnerability, Mongolia Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale, Italy
2019 — Inside Passage or A Journey Through Vulnerability, Art Space 976+, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2018 — Reincarnation Dance, Arts Council of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2017 — Healing, Toono Gallery, Shangri La, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2015 — Reincarnation, Venice 2015, Personal Structures, Palazzo Bembo, Italy
2013 — Spirits of the Steppe, Luxe Art Museum, Singapore
2012 — Earthbound, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2012 — From the Heart, Arts Council of Mongolia grant, Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum, Ulaanbaatar
2011 — Les Gardiens Du Vent, Distellerie Gallery, Bulle, Switzerland
2009 — The Silence of Healing at the Edge of the World, Teo+Namfah Gallery, Thailand
2009 — Blue Sky reflected in the Northern Face, Striped Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 — The Spirit of Tengri, Bayin Foundation, Singapore
2024 — The Pulse of the Hinterland, 4th Xinjiang International Arts Biennale, Xinjiang Art Museum
2022 — Life-in-Betweens: Mongolia and Central Asia, A Contemporary Art Perspective, Mongolian Tibetan Cultural Center, Taipei
2017 — Transcending Territories, Shin Thai Art Gallery, Huh Hot, China
2012–2013 — Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984–2012, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and Mie Prefectural Art Museum
2012 — Urban Narratives – New Contemporary Mongolian Art, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2011 — Modern Mongolia: From Steppe to Urban Dynamics, Hanart IT Gallery, Hong Kong
2010 — From Imagination to Creation, Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery
Dance Projects
2018 — Reincarnation, script and scenography for contemporary dance, Motion Mongolia Dance Festival, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
2025 — What The Gazelle Dreamed, director and scenography of the contemporary dance, Jaakhan Sharga Theater, Baruun-Urt, Sukhbaatar, Mongolia.
International Workshops / Residencies
2024 — NY20+ Residency, Chengdu City, China
2014 — Time and Space, Arts Council of Mongolia and Arts Council of South Korea, South Gobi Province, Mongolia
2012 — Khoj International Artists' Association and White Crane Arts & Media Collaboration, Dharamsala, India