Korean artist Daesung Lee’s “Futuristic Archaeology” aims to bring attention to the ancient customs of the Mongolians that are now threatened by climate change. Traditionally, Mongolians have lived nomadic lifestyles with their livestock, a tradition passed down from generation to generation. Despite urbanization, little under a half of the Mongolian population still live as nomads at a surprising 35%. However, there has been a dramatic desertification of 25% of their land in the past 30 years, inevitably taking land bit by bit of which is depended on for its vastness. In order to bring awareness to this increasingly pressing issue of the Mongolians, Lee created photographs of real-life nomadic Mongolians interacting with printed billboard-style photographs, appearing almost as if there are no borders between reality and the billboard. These museum dioramas are of the ideal, traditional landscape that is now deteriorating. By doing so, his objective of capturing the essence of what a nomadic Mongolians life is like- somewhere between the museum diorama depiction and reality.
