At the age of 17, Odonchimeg Davaadorj left her native Mongolia for the Czech Republic, then France, where she encountered a new western culture. Her gift for expressing her vision of the world via different artistic media has certainly been influenced by this multi-layered identity. She draws, paints, and sculpts, as well as working with video, performance, dance, poetry, and clothes. She says, “I think that you get to a point where you feel a work has to come out. If it’s a poem, I have to write it down. If I can’t write, I have to move, whether I dance or draw.”

An almost self-sufficient lifestyle in a remote village helped Davaadorj form an unusually close bond with nature before heading to Europe. Since her student years, her work has been imbued with her attachment to animal and plant species. An element of nostalgia comes from the little worlds the artist creates on all sorts of media, along with an exquisite lyricism. The melancholy remembrance of her childhood is expressed by each element. The dreamlike nature of her work is reinforced by the colour red, an intriguing unifying thread. Her drawings are enriched by the fragility of the sewing thread, which represents blood and life. Davaadorj’s palette and fondness for fabrics and sculpture bear witness to her admiration for Louise Bourgeois’ work, extraordinarily feminine, intense and sensual. Davaadorj’s palette and fondness for fabrics and sculpture bear witness to her admiration for Louise Bourge