Within the framework of the 130th Anniversary of the founding of Son La province, the installation art - painting program "Xong Chi Xon Xao" by a group of 4 artists - artists includes: Painter Thu Tran ( Installation - painting), Tay Phong artist ( Installation - performance), painter Le Thi Minh Tam (art) and painter Nguyen Tran Thao Nguyen (art).
Xong Chu Xon Xao is translated into Vietnamese as Tien duoc nguoi yeu, a folk song with the structure of a classical poetry school of the Thai Den people - a group of indigenous residents of Son La land throughout history.
"Xong Chi Xon Xao" is a work of tu nhien romance, a masterpiece of Thai Den people's love song about the love life of a couple who are passionate about each other but cannot get married, having to follow unknown paths in life. But that love does not perish or disappear, but has a persistent vitality to guide them to find each other, to regain the old fate.
Inspired by the self-respect of Thai Den girl, the installation - painting "Xong Chi Xon Xao" recreates not only a story of separated love, a journey of preserving, waiting and uniting of a couple who are passionate about each other but are separated by prejudice and ceremony.
After many years apart, they have found each other not in tears, but in loyalty, quiet and tolerance. Now, the young girl has become an old, disabled woman, exchanged for a bunch of dong leaves at the afternoon market, but that woman has returned to the house of love.
The stilt house of the work "Xong Chu Xon Xao" is the stage for the installation - painting. It is an old, dilapidated stilt house with only columns, floors, and roofs, reborn from two other old, dilapidated stilt houses. But it is covered with fabric that was woven from the curse frames of a woman from Thai Den for thousands of years.
Weaving, sewing clothes, and scarves are basic techniques of Thai Den ethnic women, to make outfits for themselves and their families. Therefore, fabric, scarves, and clothes have become the identity of Thai Den ethnic culture, and in this work, it has transformed into a roof, a wall to protect the newly reborn home.
A stilt house reborn from two dilapidated old stilt houses symbolizes a boy and a girl, a man and a woman. It is so majestic, with old and dilapidated colors but is extremely brilliant and colorful thanks to the fresh colors that have just been embroidered by the hands of the woman Thu Tran and other Thai Den girls.
In the context of happiness in old age in the final track of Xong Chi Xon Xao, Pieu Du is present. Pieu is a Pieu scarf of Thai girls but also a way of playing with words to express a human-made canvas adventure.
This adventurous arrangement, painting and performance of " Pieu Du" was created as a time-travel journey of the red thread, a symbol of love, memory, and the spirit of perseverance passed down from generation to generation of women, as a profound cultural symbol of the Thai ethnic group.
A wedding gift is a wish, a piece of luggage that the girl brings home to her husband, each hand-embroidered scarf is a message of affection, an affirmation of the dignity and skillful, patient hands of a woman. The Pieu scarves are a ritual, a souvenir, a identity and an aspiration.
Each embroidery line on the sky drape is a line of timeless memories. The fabric and felt can only speak, in patterns, in needles, in colors of time. That is the most profound language of a culture. Reenacting old dreams is not to return, but to rebirth.
Art is like a healing act, like a woman's hand stitching each fiber to connect life, connect humanity, connect love. Pieu Du is an effort to connect the past with the rest, between cultural identity and contemporary forms.
Pieu Du is a praise for the virtue, resilience and human beauty of Thai women; a journey not only to see, but to listen, feel and reenact dreams that have fallen. Red threads are a symbol of fate, of connection between people, between the past and the present.
That felt has combined the idea of flying fabric, protective fabric, fabric to heal heart wounds with paintings by artist Le Thi Minh Tam with a strong, bold expressing style that depicts the inner beauty and body of Thai women as symbols of fairy-tale and real vitality.
That is also the bond between the mother sitting and the daughter painting. Nguyen Tran Thao Nguyen, a member of the 9X generation of young artists, brings a new but sophisticated perspective on the forest where she was born using object-based language.
The two female artists introduced 17 paintings on canvas, as two visual flows intertwined and supporting each other in the "Pieu Du", between the singing sound, the lip lute, the whistle and the somewhat absent-minded sound of the song "Xong Chu Xon Xao" by the performance artist Tay Phong.
The presence of Tay Phong plays the role of a man like a reborn wooden frame of a stilt house. He brings a language of body expression and music, rich in symbolism, connecting the current breath with the cultural depth of the Thai people of the Northwest.
Therefore, the installation art - painting program "Xong Chi Xon Xao" is a sincere image of the Thai Den people in their efforts to find the origin of the nation to cherish, preserve and develop ancient values in the present era, when Son La province is bustlingly celebrating the 130th anniversary of its founding.
