I got an email recently from my Mongolian artist friend, Batsaihan Purveegiin. Bat is an artist I met and wrote about for the Weekly and the blog. His art is folk-art (Mongolian snow lions and horses), and his story in America is one set of unfortunate hardships after another culminating in his imprisonment in INS detention since 2003. He’s plagued by diabetes and has some other medical problems and because he’s a litigious sort, he’s got a bunch of lawsuits filed against the government. He says those cases are ongoing.
Meanwhile, he’s been freed and sent back to Mongolia where he seems to be doing ok. He was afraid to go back because the last time he was there (early 1990s) the communist regime was very brutal and repressive. But he says the country is much better now and so it’s good he’s there. It’s definitely good he’s out of prison. And while deportation is an ugly word, many of us who knew Bat thought that Mongolia was really the best place for him to be. He has family there and it’s his home. Here’s a string of stories about the artist that previously appeared on the blog. Bat’s a big email user and I know he’d like to hear from anyone who remembers his story and his art. You can send him email at purveegiin@yahoo.com.
