A Yin’s −40°C Brings Mongolian Horses and the Extreme Winters of Inner Mongolia to Lisbon

Black-and-white photography exploring nomadic culture, survival and life on the Mongolian steppe, at Ochre Space from 8 to 26 September 2026

Ochre Space is pleased to announce −40°C, a photography exhibition by Chinese-Mongolian artist A Yin, opening in Lisbon on 8 September 2026 at 18:30.

For more than three decades, A Yin has documented Mongolian nomadic culture, the horses of the steppe and the changing ways of life across Inner Mongolia. Born in 1970 into a modest herding family, he is a self-taught independent photographer whose work emerges from a deep personal and cultural connection to the territory he photographs.

Created between 2015 and 2020, the −40°C series follows Mongolian horses enduring the extreme winters of Inner Mongolia. Working in black and white, A Yin photographs distant herds as dark traces across vast snow-covered landscapes, while closer images reveal the physical presence of animals marked by frost, ice and wind.

The title refers not only to an extreme temperature, but to a threshold at which landscape, movement and survival are reduced to their most essential conditions. Far from conventional wildlife photography, A Yin’s images explore the relationship between Mongolian horses, nomadic culture and the steppe, combining documentary observation with a restrained and deeply poetic visual language.

At a time when traditional nomadic ways of life are increasingly affected by social, economic and environmental change, the photographs also carry an important dimension of memory. Without resorting to nostalgia or folklore, −40°C records a culture that remains inscribed in the landscape and in the bodies of the animals.

Curated by João Miguel Barros, the exhibition reflects on resistance, silence, movement and survival, while introducing Lisbon audiences to one of the leading voices in contemporary Chinese documentary photography.

Opening Reception
8 September 2026, 18:30

Exhibition Dates
8–26 September 2026
Wednesdays to Saturdays, from 15:00 to 18:30

Ochre Space
Rua Bica do Marquês, 31-A
Lisbon, Portugal

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