AMERICANS TEND TO SEE art out of context, often as museum pieces hanging on the wall or behind glass. Backstrap Weavers is about preserving knowledge, cultural history and experience, promoting weaving as a living art, something close to daily life.
The problem is that since coming to America, most refugees don’t have the time to practice it. The grind of their new life make it almost impossible. In their old life, women wove for practical and ceremonial purposes. Once worn, a weaving became clothing. With music and dance, it transformed again. Weaving once entailed an entire process: growing cotton, harvesting, spinning, dying, warping, weaving, wearing, dancing. The process has almost been completely disrupted. With only a few active weavers left here in the US, it is in danger of being permanently lost.
There are few reasons for Montagnards to wear traditional dress in America except for special occasions. This too, contributes to a distorting effect. Returning balance is difficult. The process is dynamic and time moves on. There is no such thing as returning to the past. The greatest challenge faced by Montagnards who wish to preserve their culture is to find ways to renew it, or as the poet Ezra Pound said about task before all artists, “make it new.”
Video still from “Dock Rmah, Community Folklife Documentation Center Institute (2009)”, a short film I helped produce while training at the institute to be a documentarian. The musician was a recipient of the 1996 North Carolina Heritage award. He lives in Greensboro, NC, not far from our house.
Montagnard guests at the Weatherspoon Museum showing off traditional dress reflecting tribal affiliation. Some modifications reflect Vietnamese influence. With my partner, Andrew Young, I helped organize some of the artifacts represented in the gallery show. Different tribes shown here include Rhade, Bunong and Jarai.
Dance performance at the Weatherspoon Museum, University of North Carolina Greensboro. These performers are Jarai.
Creating music on a ching.
Bunong performers.
Bunong skirt worn by H Rah. Here she plays a ching.
Dancing with all the tribes.
Montagnard weaving in motion. A short clip showing the end process of backstrap weaving — its wearing as clothing and transformation through dance. The performers are Bunong.
Part of the Weatherspoon show. Without the dance and music performance, woven objects and other artifacts seem lifeless. We wish to avoid this fate.
During opening night, the performance artist who organized the show is seen speaking to a Montagnard Bahnar man and looking at his drawings depicting traditional life in Vietnam uploaded onto an iPod Touch. He also created the model of a traditional house seen on the right. To survive, traditional cultures must adopt to modern life without surrendering to it, a difficult task.
Ju Nie’s work at the Green Hill Center for North Carolina's 2009 Winter Show. Edie Carpenter, Green Hill curator, saw her work at the Art Oasis event and asked for my help contacting Ju and assisting her to prepare work for display and sale.
Bunong performers.
Ju Nie’s work at the Green Hill Center for North Carolina's 2009 Winter Show. Edie Carpenter, Green Hill curator, saw her work at the Art Oasis event and asked for my help contacting Ju and assisting her to prepare work for display and sale.