Photographer Cyclist Marc Progin
In the last six years, Marc Progin has cycled over 7,500km across Mongolia, taking photographs to record his journey. He tells Adam White about the beauty of Mongolia and why bicycles are best.
HK Magazine: How do you keep yourself occupied on these long trips? What do you think about?
Marc Progin: As far as I’m concerned, there are two trips: One is the physical trip and the other is the “mind trip” – this is the most important for me. What I’m trying to do is look deep inside my mind, my soul, my heart, to enter into another spiritual world. In Mongolia there’s nothing to disturb you. In the city it’s very difficult because you can’t be alone, you’re always distracted by what’s surrounding you. The more I get away from civilization, the more I forget the time. You get up at daybreak and as soon as it’s night, the day is finished. You don’t need a watch – you don’t need anything. It’s ironic that in Switzerland I trained as a watchmaker.
HK: What was your most exciting experience?
MP: Foxhunting with eagles. The Kazakh nomad clan hunts with Golden Eagles; they’re huge and beautiful birds with two-meter wingspans. They were graceful and also very visceral. The hunters hold the mouth of the fox open so that the eagle can reach down and tear out the tongue. It’s pretty bloody.
HK: What was the most beautiful thing you saw?
MP: Hard to say. In Mongolia every 10 minutes the countryside is different. The weather changes all the time. The average temperature is 40° in the summer and -40° in the winter. That’s a difference reflected in the countryside. It’s a bare land, but suddenly you’re surprised because in the middle of the desert there’s a river, there are dunes, and it’s amazing, beautiful; you move on, and suddenly it’s mountains and it’s beautiful again.
HK: Do you think all of it can be captured in a photograph?
MP: Not all of it, no. But a lot. Beauty’s everywhere – it’s really everywhere. And the biggest advantage of a bike is that you see everything. If you go by jeep, if you drive, it’s so bumpy that you try to reach your goal as soon as possible. Then you don’t see the sky, the wildlife, you miss it all. I can feel and see everything on my bike because I’m so close to the sky and the earth.
“Vastness, Magnificence and Simplicity.” Through Mar 20. Foreign Correspondents Club, 2 Lower Albert Rd., Central.