Room for New Worlds
An ongoing personal artistic re/search longing, grieving, and healing of unbecoming and becoming; from where I began, who I am now, where I/we go from here, and futures beyond this realm. It is a first interpretation of learnings from life-changing travels through some of my ancestor's homelands which were cut short due to the global pandemic unfolding.
Photos by Rik Sferra.
Experience the installation.
As you witness the threading, stitching, and mending of my life, reflect alongside.
Videography by Nakita Vang.
Through the expression of textiles, I’m sharing the gift of threading wisdom and resilience that has been passed down to me through my mother and elders. Traditionally making our HMong clothes from cultivating seeds to weaving new cloth, the practice of creating Paj Ntaub story cloths was created folloowing the U.S. War in Vietnam and South East Asia while awaiting in refugee camps. It has preserved our/histories and captured our experiences. Sewing and making have allowed me to forge my own path to reclaim truth, cultural ways, and practices where societal norms have distanced, displaced, or denied me. Embracing HMong dress after pushing it away as a child trying to assimilate became a channel where I could hold space as an adult. It’s been a powerful movement-building and organizing tool to dream up and manifest queer cultural futures beyond patriarchy and colonialism.
Throughout this installation period, I felt guided by ancestral wisdom and instincts to shape the exhibit and give light to all the pieces showing who I am and who we are. The layers of this installation were shaped organically, with each piece informing the next. I was compelled to make room by making worlds where this dress exists in dialogue here and out there - through portals and painted dreamscapes traversing past, present, and future continuums.
Visit the companion installation remaining on view at HmongTown Marketplace through October 2022. Find the installation in the West Building (brown building) at the end of the dining hall.