Saw below recently in Something Earned, Something Left Behind at the Center for Craft in Asheville. Sok’s piece speaks to the traditional Cambodian craft of Pidan silk weaving as an act of resilience. Pidan were highly regarded in particular by French colonial archivists, and as a result there have been ample attempts at documentation, collection, and restitution of the cultural practice through its collection into museums or in the reconstruction of textile pieces funded by organizations outside Cambodia. As a result, these objects have become decontextualized and are visible only to people in museum spaces.
By placing contemporary imagery of the artist’s family onto a culturally sacred object, Sok offers a nuanced way of approaching the traditional weaving practice as an act of healing from familial and cultural trauma.
#lindasok
Painting After Art is Dead 