Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory Marketplace: A Vang, Hmong Textile Artist
SubjectPortrait of
A Vang
(Hmong)
Date2006 November 4
Mediumborn digital images
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.238.1-.7
Description2015.196.1-.7: Born digital images of A Vang at a CCHAP traditional arts marketplace with her work. This was a public event during Hartford Open Studios Weekend, at the Institute for Community Research, held in conjunction with the exhibit "Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory" which featured Hmong story cloths similar to the ones made by A Vang.
NotesBiographical Note: Hmong textile artist A Vang from Providence, Rhode Island, is a highly skilled embroiderer and seamstress. She creates traditional Hmong story cloths (paj ntaub), reverse applique textiles, embroideries, Hmong costumes, and clothing. She has marketed her work around New England. After CCHAP met her at a craft fair in Litchfield, Connecticut, she participated in several of CCHAP's open house marketplaces for refugee and immigrant artists. Older women used to make the gorgeous applique and embroidery work known as paj ndau, and they still create traditional costumes for women and men, albeit with modern shortcuts (traditional dyeing techniques are replaced by printed cloth, for instance). The Hmong have a number of sub-cultural groups; one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Blue Hmong is their custom of batiking cloth with blue indigo. One specific kind of textile that the Hmong have become known for are the “story cloths”. These are a comparatively new genre first made in the Thai refugee camps around 1975. In these embroidered pieces, direct figurative references are made to folk tales, myths, personal family stories, and scenes of village life. These story cloths also depict the turbulence and hardships of the war years in Southeast Asia. Hmong textile works also include many references to the natural world, to the plants and animals, which are native to the hills of Laos. (Winifred Lambrecht, Ph.D (CCHAP project partner); July 2006)Subject Note: From 2007 to 2019, almost annually, CCHAP held a traditional arts marketplace during Open Studios Weekend (a Hartford-wide self-guided artist studio tour held on the second weekend in November), to support folk artists from several communities living in Connecticut. The artists would bring their crafts, often exquisite textile arts, to sell while discussing their art forms and cultures with visitors. On November 4 2006, a Traditional Crafts Marketplace was held in conjunction with the Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory exhibit. A wide variety of local artists gathered to sell their crafts and offer hands-on demonstrations, including artists from the Hmong, Peruvian, and Ukrainian communities.
Subject Note: On Friday, October 27, 2006 from 5-8 pm, the Institute for Community Research (ICR) hosted an opening reception for the traveling exhibit Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory. This thought-provoking exhibit featured sixty appliqués, clothing, embroideries, story cloths and woven rugs created by artisans from war-torn countries around the world. While the textiles depict startling images of conflict, the exhibit also demonstrated that art, narrative, and tradition can help to heal those who have suffered through strife. The exhibit was displayed at the Jean J. Schensul Community Gallery at ICR, 2 Hartford Square West Suite 100, 146 Wyllys St, in Hartford, CT, from October 27 2006 through January 13 2007, the only showing in New England.
ICR’s Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CHAP) worked closely with local community leaders whose cultures were represented in Weavings of War, in organizing a series of events accompanying the exhibit, starting with a traditional artists’ market held at ICR in conjunction with Hartford Open Studios Weekend 2006. Other activities included an Afghan dinner, a Chilean story cloth workshop, presentations of personal experiences of war, a Cambodian court dance performance, and a presentation and discussion by Bosnian weavers, among several other events. These events brought forward the stories and direct experiences of those who live in Connecticut now as neighbors, sharing their powerful narratives of trauma and dislocation, seldom heard publicly, that gave testament to resilience, grace, and the power of art to heal. For many immigrant groups, teaching about cultural heritage and history is crucial to maintaining the health and well-being of the community, especially among the younger generations. These groups - Afghan, Laotian, Hmong, Vietnamese, Chilean, and Peruvian - represent important newcomers to the Greater Hartford area. Having lived under the threat of political turmoil and genocide, their cultural leaders are deeply committed to the survival of their languages and traditions. Local project partners have experienced the events that the textiles depict, and they will contribute to programming by offering narratives and performances about the events and their cultural contexts. They are concerned about public misunderstanding or forgetting of important historical events, and wish to develop and maintain positive paths towards both integration and cultural preservation.
Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory was a traveling exhibition curated by Ariel Zeitlin Cooke; produced by City Lore, Michigan State University Museum, and the Vermont Folklife Center; and funded by the Coby Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and Paul and Eileen Growald. ICR's programming was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism; The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation; the Knox Foundation; the Connecticut Humanities Council; the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving; the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, Trustee; and the Greater Hartford Arts Council, through its United Arts and United Way campaigns.
The exhibit presented sixty traditional textiles made by artisans from several cultural groups worldwide, as well as textiles created by local artists from similar cultural backgrounds. The textiles, including embroideries, appliques, woven rugs, clothing, and story cloths, depicted motifs, images, or narratives of the wars and traumas undergone by these groups in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Textiles that are traditional in form and technique but include startling imagery of tanks, helicopters, and other depictions of battle became noticed in the 1980s, as refugees from the mujahadeen war with the Russian-backed government in Afghanistan fled to Pakistan. Their "war rugs" became highly valued by collectors, and found a popular market with New York street vendors. These rugs expressed many fascinating convergences and disjunctures, inviting investigation of traditional and contemporary art form definitions, anthropological topics such as the effect of dislocation on social and ethnic identity, changing concepts of oriental and western art, and debates about dealers' and collectors' effects on craft production and markets. Other themes suggested by these textiles explore women's resistance through narrative in various theatres of war, and the process of healing trauma through the production of art.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this artist and these activities.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
