Weaving Narratives

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit eight museums in Hanoi for The University of Queensland’s Museum Studies Vietnam Field School. Coming from a fine arts background, I set out on a journey to discover the Art of Vietnam, to understand the traditional aesthetic and what cultural influences lead the designs to what they are now today. Initially my experience of Hanoi was a sensory overload where I was delighted by the city buzz of bright lights, motorbike madness, sweet and pungent smells, tantalising tastes, soft silks and brilliant bold colours. However over that past week I have discovered a deeper more complex place for the people of Vietnam and found in its museums an elusive aesthetic, shadowed by the vibrant triumphs of a strong and humble people overcoming the hardships of war and poverty. My curiosity to find out more has been lured and snagged like a fish on a fishing line.

One of the topics discussed in the field school has been to look at models of community engagement and the importance of understanding the museum audience. The key is to know the museum audience instead of assuming what the audience wants. Likewise in community projects, one has to be careful not to ‘idealise’ the community’s voice, building relationships and trust to understand their needs. I realise that I had come to Vietnam with idealised perspective of what Vietnamese art is based on my preconceived assumptions. Instead I have found that it was not in the paintings and drawings at the National Museum of Fine Art, but through the designs in clothing and textiles at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

Textiles at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

I have been enticed by the traditional weaving and embroidery of the Black Thai women for their geometric patterns of tightly woven colourful threads on black fabric. The Black Thai are among the largest ethnic minorities group in Vietnam in the North-Western regions who have a strong cultural influence on their neighbouring communities in Laos, Thailand, Burma and China. The name originates from the traditional clothing worn by the women; black skirts, silver blouse, and headscarfs called ‘pieu’ made from a length of hand woven black cloth which is embellished with bright embroidery on either end. The women make their own traditionally handcrafted colourful painted furniture and everyday household items, learning to raise silk worms from an early age for their weaving and embroidery. Textiles and clothing are one of the key ways in which Vietnam’s many ethnic minorities express their identity and cultural traditions.

Black Thai textile

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology’s aim is for ‘preservation of cultural heritages of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam’, while also creating a space for the ‘cultural bearers’ to display their values and stories through cultural objects, working with these communities through community projects (e.g. festivals, culturally significant calendar events, public programs, handicraft projects). Whilst this is beneficial to both the museum and the communities, there needs to be care to not to exploit culture as commodity and so I’ve found myself continually asking ‘What do these communities want?’ and ‘What is their voice?’ These answers are widely videried and each project is unique to the community it is working with. As highlighted in the field school discussions, museums face many difficulties while working with communities. One of the issues of working with ethnic minorities is poverty (and the elimination of poverty) and so it is not uncommon for these remote communities to be reluctant to work with museums. Although it is not the role of the museum to solve problems, museums can help facilitate resolution of issues and encourage discussion, and so it is the responsibility of the museum to find balance in appropriate level of engagement when working in community collaborations. Perhaps museums need to look at revising their roles asking ‘Who are the cultural bearers and knowledge consultants?’

Like the colourful threads embroidered into the Black Thai’s pieu, I have found myself weaving together the multiple narratives in Vietnam’s museums and communities- an informed understanding of Vietnam’s visual culture.

Painting of Black Thai woman wearing traditional headscarf called ‘pieu’

Halley Martin