Tapestries: Strange Songs, 2020
Stereogrammed generative patterns and foam prints
My family can trace its ancestry back to the royal family of Chu, an ancient kingdom once located in Southern China. Displayed on the right of Strange Songs is the phrase “songs from Chu” pulled from a well-known Chinese idiom referring to a hopeless situation. The music of Chu has always had an almost mythical status within Chinese culture and history, evoking sadness, but also beauty. Strange Songs explores the tension created between these connotations and the Chu lacquerware in the center almost resembling an ancient Chinese instrument.
The calligraphy and centerpiece are both interlocked within a back-and-forth relationship inside the confines of the tapestry, serving as a reminder of the inevitable tragedy that often characterizes ancient cultures which prized the arts over military prowess, and the subsequent romanticizing of them.
© 2023 Victor Li