Hair embroidery on Nam Cao silk.

Silk: 300 x 60cm.

Wooden Tambour: 51 x 108 x 70cm.

Description

There are images that have stayed with me for a long time. The first image is of myself growing up with my mother’s embroidery tambour, where she worked on long stretches of fabric. The second is of her combing her hair, where long greyed strands would curl on the teeth of the comb. These two images, together, push me to work toward a portrait of my mother. I have collected my lost hair over the years and intended to use it as embroidery thread. But I have yet to choose an image that is closest to the feeling of a mother. During my field trip to Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai province, I happened to come across the statue of Fish Basket Guanyin (魚籃觀音) in the pottery workshops. The soft shape and graceful patterns evoke memories of lingering tenderness. I think I found the feeling that I long for. I wrapped the statue with silk, and used clay to rub and transfer the patterns on the folds of the Guanyin's clothes onto the silk. Finally, I took my hair-thread to  improvisedly embroider those clay traces, trying to portray an imageless portrait: Mother.

Source: A. Farm.