Artist Shares Mongolian Culture Through Masks
Gankhuyag Natsag, also known as Ganna, has dedicated his life to sharing Mongolian culture around the world through his art.
Ganna was born in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, and moved to the US in 2002. He has been making masks used in a Buddhist ritual dance known as tsam for more than two decades.
"The first mask I made was the Old White Man in 1997. Then I decided to make all 108 masks. It took me 10 years. I completed in 2007 all 108 ... masks," Ganna says.
Tsam has been performed in Mongolia since the early 1800s, though it was banned by the Soviets in the 1930s. "They destroyed more than 800 temples, including many Buddhist objects. A lot of masks were destroyed during that time," Ganna said. Only about 30 masks survived. This motivated Ganna to recreate all 108 tsam masks.
Ganna says it takes about a month to create one mask, some of which go to museums around the world.
Ganna also created a music and dance group called Khan Bogd that has performed at festivals, theaters, and museums in more than 50 countries.
"I would like to [share] Mongolian culture all over the world, through my art and through my masks. That's one of my biggest goals. We need to preserve our culture. That is very important."
