Nutug by Mia Zhang
Mia Zhang presents Nutug, a multi-channel video installation combining moving image, sculpture, textiles, sound, and print to explore ideas of home, memory, and belonging.
The seven-minute work reconstructs fragmented personal and cultural histories, inviting audiences to physically move through an immersive space shaped by atmosphere, language, and storytelling.
Inspired by her grandmother’s life in northwestern China near Mongolia, Nutug explores home as a fluid and living condition rather than a fixed place. The title comes from the Mongolian word for “home”, although for Mia the meaning extends far beyond a physical location.
The word is made by water, soil, wind, language, and memory.
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Rivers become a recurring metaphor throughout the installation, reflecting both migration and emotional connection. The work draws from the Mongolian-derived name of the city Golmud, meaning 'the place where rivers converge', where Mia’s grandmother once lived.
I had never been there before, but I found its name already flowing through my veins... I always heard my family talk about it, I had many imaginings about it.
At the centre of the installation are three female figures: Reb, Rain, and Mia’s grandmother. Although her grandmother never physically appears on screen, her presence is felt through voice-over and a dancing shadow inspired by traditional Mongolian dance. Reb represents Mia herself, constantly moving and searching for where “home” might be, while Rain embodies the desire to escape feelings of being trapped.
Guided by the grandmother “like a witch or oracle,” the three women are connected through shared jewellery carrying memory, protection, and emotional connection.
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The script for 'Nutug' was written as a way for Mia to understand her grandmother not only as family, but as a woman she longed to know more deeply.
“I had been searching for a suitable way to tell her life story,” she explained. “I wanted to observe her as a woman, as someone I trusted most and wanted to get close to.”
She added: “I was very young when she left, but the older I got, the more I realised there were still many things I wanted to ask her, and many questions I wanted to share with her.”
Writing became the emotional starting point for the project, with poetry, notes, and fragments of prose shaping the installation before material choices were made. Video, textiles, sound, wood, wax, and sculptural objects were then brought together to create what Mia describes as a “soft and intimate environment.”
These materials are chosen for their warmth. Wood feels gentler than metal, wax is fragile and changeable, and textiles connect me to my grandmother’s sewing career.
Rather than simply watching the work, audiences are encouraged to physically move through memory, atmosphere, and space. Reflecting on the process of creating 'Nutug', Mia described how the project reshaped her understanding of belonging after years of moving between cities, cultures, and languages.