LOST IN THE REEDS
July 2020
Video, openframeworks
Exhibitions & Publications:
FLAT Journal Issue #1: HALT
Area Code Art Fair, August 2020
(all profits were gifted to Cam Ne Village)
Art Explosion, September 2020
Press:
VietnamNet
Gifting event:
Gia Dinh News
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July 2020
Video, openframeworks
Exhibitions & Publications:
FLAT Journal Issue #1: HALT
Area Code Art Fair, August 2020
(all profits were gifted to Cam Ne Village)
Art Explosion, September 2020
Press:
VietnamNet
Gifting event:
Gia Dinh News
Lost in the Reeds depicts the process in which the mat is woven, reed by reed, over thirty minutes. The audio represents the sonic experience while making a reed mat: the sound of reed fields, cutting and gathering the reeds, getting set up and working the wooden loom.
When I was a child growing up in Vietnam, like many households back then, my family used to gather around for dinner on a woven reed mat. Sometimes the dinner would go on for so long that the reeds left imprints on my skin, a memento of sorts for the time shared together.
Reed mat weaving is a Vietnamese traditional handicraft, but has now become a vanishing practice due to industrialization and a shifting lifestyle. Located in central Vietnam, Cam Ne village was renowned for their colorful and meticulous hand-woven reed mats that were once favored by kings of the Nguyen Dynasty. The mat took one day to weave, reed by reed, and had to be performed by two people using a simple wooden loom. The rustling sound of reeds and the creaking rhythm of the wooden loom were the heartbeat of the village. Now, there is only one household left in the village holding onto the craft.
This piece is a manifestation of nostalgia, the passing of traditions, and a desire to grasp onto a craft that situates my memory of home.
When I was a child growing up in Vietnam, like many households back then, my family used to gather around for dinner on a woven reed mat. Sometimes the dinner would go on for so long that the reeds left imprints on my skin, a memento of sorts for the time shared together.
Reed mat weaving is a Vietnamese traditional handicraft, but has now become a vanishing practice due to industrialization and a shifting lifestyle. Located in central Vietnam, Cam Ne village was renowned for their colorful and meticulous hand-woven reed mats that were once favored by kings of the Nguyen Dynasty. The mat took one day to weave, reed by reed, and had to be performed by two people using a simple wooden loom. The rustling sound of reeds and the creaking rhythm of the wooden loom were the heartbeat of the village. Now, there is only one household left in the village holding onto the craft.
This piece is a manifestation of nostalgia, the passing of traditions, and a desire to grasp onto a craft that situates my memory of home.
Cam Ne village location
