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2009-0421 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Preserving cultural fabric

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/43321707.html

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Preserving cultural fabric
MIAD students use art to transmit old Hmong tales

Gary Porter
Christina Vang (from left), Hua Moua and Chuechoular Moua talk about Hmong culture and history. The students used Hmong folk tales told to them by Hua’s father, Chuechoular, and created children’s books, dolls, CDs and story cloths.

By Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Apr. 20, 2009

Christina Vang and Hua Moua call their project "Hmong -3-2-1," which like their lives and their art, intertwines with dual meanings.

"It's like English 101, which means learning," says Hua. "And in Hmong it stands for the three spirits that come when you die. One spirit goes back to the ancestors or roots. One spirit guards the body. And the third spirit wanders aimlessly in the world."

That, they say, captures the essence of their senior research and art exhibition project called "The Door in the Mountain," which caps their four years of study at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. The project, along with 135 other exhibits by senior artists and designers, will be on display at MIAD through May 9.

With the project, Vang and Moua, both born to Hmong parents who immigrated here after the Vietnam War, say they hope to keep alive Hmong culture and spirit that they fear might be slipping away as new generations assimilate here.

The Hmong have passed on history and culture through hand-sewn picture story cloths and storytelling because a written Hmong language wasn't developed until the 1950s by missionaries.

One of eight children, Vang, 22, was born and raised in Milwaukee and attended Brown Deer High School. She remembers watching her mother sew quilts for Hmong festivals.

Moua, 24, was born in Merced, Calif., also one of eight children. In 2000 her family moved to Madison, where she finished high school at Madison West. She, too, cherishes childhood memories of her mother stitching cloths. Her father played the musical Hmong reed instrument and told the ancient tales designed to entrance and teach.

"All my family worked with their hands and work in artistic ways," she adds. "My older sister is a fashion designer. My brother works with cars. Once I jumped on the computer and learned Adobe, I was hooked," she says of her love of graphic design.

The two women found that, although they grew up in traditional Hmong households, the dominant culture pulled them away.

"As we got older we did see that we loved our roots, but that we were assimilating and forgetting because the Hmong have no country to go back to, so it's hard to hold on to the culture," says Moua.

At MIAD the two joined their cultural passion with their love of graphic design to create their senior project, which interprets traditional folk tales through design. They made story cloth posters, fabric dolls and sculpture, illustrated folk tale books, and a CD. All are placed in a space that includes a table and bright, comfortable pillows to create a storytelling atmosphere.

The project included research and collecting the folk tales anew. Moua's father, Chuechoular Moua, was only too happy to assist by retelling the ancient tales. His favorite is "Dao Ton's Heavy Heart."

It tells the story of a man who, like himself, plays the reed wind instrument. One day he's called by the Sky King to play at his daughter's funeral. "On the way he talks to the others about how much he misses his wife. The spirit, who becomes a tiger, hears his sorrows and captures his wife," he says. Dao must then go through many adventures with the tiger to finally win his wife back.

"The lesson is that when you go away, you don't talk about your wife or your family," he says. "In our culture, it's a sign of respect not to talk about your family, but to hold them in your heart."

Other cultural assistance and support were provided by the Hmong Association of Sheboygan and others in the Hmong community. The two would like to see their exhibit live on, possibly at the Hmong cultural center that's being built in Madison or another venue.

The exhibit's title, "The Door in the Mountain," describes the hope for younger generations of Hmong, who came from the rural mountains of Laos.

"There's a story about a couple that didn't know how to handle a problem, so they went to a wise man," says Vang. "He advised them to go to the door in the mountain, which means to return to their roots and culture. That's what this means to us."

Find this article at:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/43321707.html
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Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu