Weaving, mom

This fall, at this moment, the Ming Dangzheng Art Museum in Shanghai is holding an exhibition. In the huge factory building, a group of ordinary women woven works from a small woman in a small town in Sichuan.

The themes and types of these works are very special. The aunt in the town, weaving the bikini designed by wool, the "bad guy" in his heart, the ideal of his ideal home, and many lively wool hats and flags.

In one of the themes called "security", when asked, if they were bullied by bad guys, how to defend themselves and their families, they gave their answers with weaving, namely: "Kimchi jar and sauerkraut inside" , "Mosquito coils smoke bad guys", "(use the horn) to help for help", "I am a doctor, I have a needle", "The green onions can not open my eyes", "thieves come with a brand -name thing", "I can pick up the stools, I can also pick up the stools. shoot". And the aunt directly woven the swear words of the wall, turning into a swearing wave.

This is the humor of Sichuan people, the wisdom of ordinary people, and the life experience and imagination of women.

The origin of these works is another vivid story -Hu Yinping, an artist born in this town. When he went home, he accidentally found that his mother was weaving a wool hat. Many aunts on the top are doing the same job. She didn't want her mother to be harvested so cheaply, so she thought about a way. She made up a hat buyer named Xiaofang and began to acquire the mother's hat at a higher price. Later, it became the acquisition of the whole town Auntie's hat. Xiaofang gave some special orders for their aunts to create them freely.

This behavior has been going on for 7 years and is still continuing. In 7 years, this behavior has grown up more things from a "good faith" -the aunts in the town expressed their values, their life experience, and their own pain in these weaving works. As a real "Xiao Fang", Hu Yinping himself was nourished in the process.

Of course, she didn't want to go to the process of romance. It is also very practical to deal with the aunts. Compared with the art of these works, where is the exhibition, they are more concerned about the boss of Xiaofang, can you raise your salary? Can I send more benefits?

In mid -September, we talked to her in Hu Yinping's studio related stories related to Xiaofang. Finally asked her how to introduce her, she said, "I was from ordinary Sichuan town to drift north. I worked in the art industry. I care about people and things around me, and the situation of individuals in reality."

The following is her description:

Text ｜ Lin Songguo

Edit ｜ Yao Lu

Figure ｜ Interviewee provided

"This is my mother's time"

I remember very clearly that the earliest found that my mother was weaving a hat in September 2015. At that time, I made an exhibition in Chengdu and went home to see her by the way. After returning, I found that she woven the hat at home, which was the kind of old hat, gray, and filled with two sacks. It was uncomfortable to see me at the time.

I asked. At that time, there was a special hat buyer who would go to our town to buy a hat at a low price, and did not provide a wool, so my mother had to buy the wool by herself. Basically don't make money.

She may feel nothing, and it ’s time for passing, but I think that I rely on my mother’ s time. I told her, don't weave it, she said what I do n’t woven me. I said, don't you sell the hat to me, she said no, we can't make their own money. I had to give up temporarily.

I found that the relationship between parents and children is actually very independent, and you can't really change her. For example, I will give her money, but she will not use it, she will save it. Even if you bought a house for her, she couldn't live in two, because she was used to the town and was used to her friends. The relationship between her and the surrounding groups was more comfortable. This was very real. Lifetime. In a very complete system, she couldn't get involved.

My mother's degree is high school. She has been admitted to college, but she has many sisters in her family. She can't support a college student. She had been a music teacher in the countryside, and later married my dad. When she lived in the town, she entered the silk factory in the town. Since I remember, she has worked in the factory and worked for about more than ten years. In the 1990s, the factory closed, and she did not do a fixed work anymore.

In the town, it is difficult to find a fixed job. Either you open a small store or make a small sale. But my grandparents were still there at that time, so she had been taking care of the elderly and had no complete time to work. It can only be scattered, for example, to help when people are red and white.

When she found that she woven her hat, I have left home for several years, and I go back once a year, which is not too clear about her ordinary life.

Later, I always thought about it. I thought she was woven all day long, and I always felt that it was wrong. I also thought about contacting the hat acquisition to add some money to my mother's hat, or to help her change the line. The inferior line was very hurt. I contacted and contacted, and I didn't contact it. My mother was not willing to find me, and she didn't know what the ghost I was playing.

After a few days, I had a dinner with my university roommate. I was thinking about it. I told my roommate about this. I said that if you collect it for me, I wo n’t go to the hat buyer. She should be down. My mother knew her, but had never seen it, so she needed a new name. She thought a name for herself, and it was Xiaofang. I said the name, she said no, I think it's good, I will call Xiaofang. I said. This is just like this. At that time, I told my mother that I accidentally met a friend of a friend during the exhibition. It was a French company and they were collecting their hats. In order to pick myself more clearly, I said, I am not so familiar with this person, just see if you can do it. If you feel satisfied, do not do it.

This is the case.

Hu Yinping showed the mother woven hat woven in the arrow factory space

"You always know the hat she sent you,

But you never know what the hat is like "

My mother believes. Why don't you believe it? We thought a lot of details.

First of all, this transaction is very real. We bought her a good line and sent it. She sent it to Xiaofang after she made a hat. Xiaofang's inspection was fine, and then gave her handmade fees.

I bought those wool and bought it directly on Taobao. I would communicate with the store. Let the store not leave my name and phone call, just write the information about the consignee, and send it directly. She woven it and sent it to Xiaofang Tongzhou's home, and Xiaofang sent me again. It has nothing to do with me.

Of course, your conditions should not be too good, the money cannot be given too much, and a little bit. For example, after she woven the hat, Xiao Fang would ask her, Auntie, how much do you think this hat is worth it. At the beginning, she said, "I think this hat, how much you should give me by hand." Because this hat is more time, it looks different from before. Later, slowly, she would weave a complicated one, and she would be greedy, and would increase the price. "Xiaofang, I think I woven this hat particularly well, and it is more expensive." We will say, "Auntie, no, you don't seem to have been handmade for a long time." It looks real to bargain with her, and I don't want to breed greed.

I picked her wool at the time, and there were about hundreds of choice. She has worked in the Silk Factory for so many years, but you know that she may have never seen these lines for a lifetime. As a craftsman, she got a different material, and she was quite happy and very fresh. Just like we make sculptures, you encounter a variety of mud in this world, and you will have emotions for that mud.

At the beginning, I chose a very expensive line. She particularly likes to weave all the rabbit hair. The line is so expensive, more than 300 pounds, imported rabbit velvet, it is really good, and the touch feels good. A hat is about two or two to three and a half, a little bigger four or two lines, you think it is very expensive. Sometimes she woven it and can be woven a lot in a day. I can't think of it. I can't buy her such a expensive line. I should go bankrupt. Later, I picked up, short hair, long hair, long hair, shallow fluff ... I found that one of the benefits was that she could mix out of weaving, color matching and style.

We told her at the beginning that Xiaofang Company did not stipulate the style. She watched whatever she wanted, but there was a condition that she had to be satisfied by herself. Because I don't understand knitting, I can't provide her style. I don't want to turn this into her burden, and I don't ask my mother to be one. She can also be woven.

But she did woven all kinds of hats. She will weave different styles according to the thickness, length, length of the line. Sometimes it may be in life (inspiration). For example, when the cauliflower is cooked this season, she woven a pile of cauliflower and put it on it. Today, when I saw a mouse, or to cross a boat, she was impressed by her impression. Little something is woven on it.

One year when she came to Beijing, it was very cold. She went out to buy food, and she had to wear a hat, and tied another scarf, which was very troublesome. Later, she made a scarf hat. It is equivalent to wearing a hat on the head. The tail is very long. You can wrap it on the neck for two laps, which is a scarf. This is based on the needs of life. She is very pragmatic and simple.

I remember that she sent her hat to Xiaofang first. Xiaofang took it. The two of us opened together and watched it together. I also wear it, and Xiaofang also wear. You always know the hat she sent you, but you never know what the hat looks like. Each hat is different. There may be a few styles in the same style, and some will have some problems. On the basis of this top, she will adjust the version, and there will definitely be one of her most satisfied.

Until now, I can recognize her hat from a pile of hat -her workmanship must not be as good as other aunts. She will care more about the model and design of the hat, not so much. She will do more vividly because she is like that. Other aunts are also very vivid, but each of them is vivid and vivid.

Because of contacting Xiaofang, my mother learned to use smartphones, registered WeChat, and had her own account. At the beginning, she sent express delivery and wrote my dad's name, because my dad had a job, and everyone in the town knew him, but later, she would write her own name.

For my mother, the sense of accomplishment still comes from, and no other aunts are weaving these lines. In our town, the types of wool that can be bought are very limited, and many people have never seen it. For her, there can be different lines and think of some weaving, and all the aunts around me are weaving the same hat, which must have a great sense of accomplishment. In the whole year of 2016, we received more than 100 hats from my mother. In this process, Xiaofang was also immersed, or she was very magical. She especially liked this project. Every time I sent the courier, we watched it together.

Xiaofang was originally a civil servant in Beijing. There is a Beijing hukou. Her daily job is to drink a cup of tea, look at the contract, signature, and squeeze melon seeds. I was also tired of life day after day, and then she resigned because of her hat.

Mom's hat -style woven throughout the year in 2016

"When you see the real thing,

You will always be moved, she won't let you numb ""

In March 2017, we decided to set up a small Fang company to continue this matter. It is not just my mother's hat, but also the aunts of the aunts in the town, and find a way to help sell these hats. We pretended to be a French company and set up a company, and seemed to become more complete. The contemporary company system can also help us better promote and improve this work.

What is the next question is to weave. I soon discovered that my mother was actually very ordinary. What she could do, and the aunts could do it, and there were many people in that generation. They have a lot of possibilities, instead of letting it ferment slowly, it is better to give me a (theme) to let all their creativity be fermented.

The first task I set at the time was a bikini. The first time I watched the sea was 2009, at the sea in Barcelona, ​​when I thought, I hope that one day I can go to Barcelona with my mother to see the sea. The second time I watched the sea in Miami. The beach was really good. Everyone was naked. I always thought that when I rely on it, it would be great to bring my mother to Miami to dry her buttocks. But she has been taking care of her grandparents, and this is unlikely. I thought at the time that this group of aunts had basically never seen the sea. If they were thinking of the sea in their hearts, the wool line bikini was a cool thing.

Another reason is that if weaved is too complicated, it is particularly not suitable for expressing art, and art is simple and direct. The bikini is simple. One of the three points comes out to make them face their creativity.

But it is particularly difficult to persuade everyone to make the first set. And the first thing I persuaded was not aunt, but Xiao Fang. Xiaofang is a conservative Shandong girl. I didn't understand it at first. I convinced Xiaofang first, and Xiaofang persuaded a young mother in Sichuan. At that time, she woven a set of green, conservative bikinis, and her pants were all tadar trousers, and they were almost knee. But we still encourage her, saying that you see, you woven it very well, and gave her a lot of money. It is considered to encourage her with words and money. Slowly others started to weave.

The climate in Sichuan is very tide, and everyone is weaving under the sun. At first, I was a little conflict, but then many people started to weave, just fine, there was nothing scared, and the others laughed when they laughed.

Bikini woven by aunts

After bikini, we did a project about "security". Its source was in 2015, and my studio experienced a violent demolition. In the same way, what will happen to the aunt in the town? I asked Xiaofang to ask the aunt, if the bad guy comes, what kind of weapons do you use to protect yourself and his family?

At first they woven it. At first glance, I was all knife and guns. It is normal to think about it, and the weapons in everyone's ideology are that. But the reality is definitely not the case. It is not real enough, and I will communicate again: Really bad people are coming, you can't have guns and bullets. I still hope that they can think more about this problem and face this situation.

I remember the first aunt that she woven kimchi jar, and I saw it all stunned at once. The kimchi jar and kimchi. Xiaofang asked the aunt and said that the bad guys came to throw him kimchi jar.

Another aunt, she never woven it, and we asked her what was going on. She said that the bad guy came, and she would scold him with swear words. She couldn't weave it. We asked her to say a word of swear words and feel good, so let her woven all those swear words, what kind of fairy board, turtle son, a lot. She won't write about swear words, so let's check her one of our team partners. I said not to check her, just use pinyin. Many of her pinyin is also wrong, but it doesn't matter, you can see that meaning. This exhibition is very interesting to make her swear words. It is quite interesting. I estimate that these aunts have laughed after finishing doing it, and maybe I am also very happy.

In fact, after the establishment of the Xiaofang project, I rarely control these things in detail. Auntie said that I want to weave a fishing net, I said it is good, then weave it. Maybe I forgot this. She woven it and sent it. When I saw the real thing, you were always moved, and she would not let you numb.

Just like later, after two and a half years, I thought that my aunt thought about the bad guys every day. How to protect her home, what do the bad guys in the aunt's mind look like? Considering, pondering, I would like to woven them out of their minds. You know she will send a bad guy, but you will never know what the bad guys will do.

There is a bad guy who woven auntie, when she went to work in the city. Every time she go to checkout, she needs the boss to sign. If the boss does not sign, she can't get the money. There is also a aunt who woven herself, because she has a lot of knife mouths, there are belly, and her legs, so she does not wear skirts or shorts in summer, because others see the scars on her, and they will think she is a scar on her. The bad guy, so she woven herself. When I saw it, it was really touched, so real, so cruel, you would feel particularly good. As for how the scars on her body are caused, or her encounter, you can probably imagine that I have not asked the staff to continue asking, and then ask the privacy of others. It's right.

In fact, the "sense of security", everyone looks at the aunt's work and the idea of ​​auntie, but it is not limited to the aunt, everyone is the same. Is the sense of insecurity I face, the sense of insecurity you are facing, is there a big difference between the insecurity faced by my aunt? In this land, the sense of security faced by everyone is often common.

"Bad People" series

"The hand hurts,

But if you issue some bonuses, it will not hurt soon. "

If you really want to explain to the aunts in the town, it is difficult to be difficult, and most of them are not interested in understanding.

The aunts are very realistic. In their eyes, this job is the same as the original work in the Silk Factory or the work in the paper factory. A aunt at a paper factory, she will not care about where these paper will be used in the end.

Of course, they also said that Xiaofang Company is a bit strange, "Why do your French companies want all weird things?" So we will also cause an illusion. Click, Yunnan, Guizhou also, Sichuan is just one of them. Coupled with Xiaofang in Sichuan for a while, work with them, and wages in place, they will not question.

They hope more to live more than curious companies. Sometimes they are also coquettish with Xiaofang, saying that this is unpalatable and painful, but if you issue some bonuses, you will not hurt (laugh) immediately.

Later, we started to do these projects (such as "bikini", "weapon", etc.). Really, there were no two or three months. No one moved the first chopsticks. They always say, oops, how did you change it again, how did you change it again, how did you make new ones, and you have to move your mind again. What you will always get is such a reply.

Their favorite is hats. Weaving hats are almost not moving. They can weave three or five tops a day. You can watch the TV. You do n’t need to watch it. But if you want to do something else, you need to move your mind. So we thought of a way later, that is, the distribution. For example, if the aunt participated in a certain project, we woven something that needed imagination, and we would pay her 50 hats. With these 50 hats, they may be interested in joining.

These brain -moving works will be more money, even more than a hundred times. But they are not willing, because those things are very strenuous. She has to think about, if you think, he feels tired and does not like to do it. Unless you give enough money, she feels okay.

Just like recently, we are doing something for a art museum in Chengdu. The aunts do very slowly and slowly, but as soon as we say that we need a hat, we have finished weaving in a few days and have been sent to the art museum.

They also had plagiarism. It is necessary for a clear and clear mechanism. For example, this aunt copied another aunt, and the plagiarized aunt would be very unhappy. She thought she copied me and took the same money as me. The cost of plagiarizing aunt should be lower than other aunts. As soon as such a mechanism comes out, the aunt will think that if you copy others, the money is less, it seems that it is really unnecessary.

We sent the aunts' hats to the scene of the US anti -Trump parade, and sent a group of green hats to the San Patrick Festival parade in Ireland (the traditional color of the San Patrick Festival was green). Sometimes the live video will be shown to them. They will say, "Why do foreigners like to wear green?" They may not go deeply, but at least they will feel that what we are ridiculed here is One very happy thing. I think it's enough.

Over the years, we will give them benefits every New Year. The earliest rules are issued by each festival. We have posted chai oil and salt, hand -washing, washing powder, pots and bowls, insulation cups, cups, apples. In order to make the aunt happy, I also bought a needle box imported from South Korea. It was particularly good -looking, but it was broken in two days because they had children in their homes. They didn't like something that was not affordable. Once I bought the apples planted by the painter's house, they received it, very angry, saying that it was not as good as our local food, and it was better to send money. Later, when we posted again, we would ask what they wanted, but I found that they always wanted a quilt (laugh), and we had already sent at least four or five times in a row. The latest statistics, they said, they still want to be a silk quilt.

The reason why I often send benefits is that when my mother was working in the factory, I often issued various benefits and sent a heating water bottle or something. In our aunt, some of the silk factories in the town have worked. Our factory, there were a lot of people in the 1990s. I remember that I was only a few years old at that time. I stayed in the factory. Hundreds of aunts were doing that kind of dumping work. Later, it closed down. In fact, it was the end of an era. From the planned economy to the market economy, these factories were replaced by so -called better and more advanced things. This time we exhibition in Shanghai, the predecessor of this art museum, is also a factory in Shanghai in Shanghai, and also a factory in the planned economy era. It is also the structure of the collective era. When I was showing, I took a picture and sent it to my cousin. She said, "Isn't this an aunt's factory?" She responded immediately and didn't hit it at all. At a glance, she can know that for me, it is the same. When I entered that art gallery, I felt that this space seemed to be related to these works of my mother and aunts, which was the feeling.

The Ming Dynasty Art Museum "Hu Xiaofang and Qiao Xiaosi" exhibition

"Their situation, their encounters,

The relationship between them in the times "

Until now, my mother and aunts do not know that Xiaofang is behind Xiaofang.

I have always asked the staff to contact them, and I am invisible. When my staff member returned to Sichuan, my mother would ask him: Do you recognize Hu Yinping? He didn't know, and my mother had nothing to say. We thought that as long as I never appeared, even if they doubted, we could not admit it.

One year I went back and found that those aunts were weaving things in my house. They were very busy. I went home. The aunts were very unhappy. Seeing that I was a bit unpleasant, I felt that I was going to take my mother. Why, your mother wants to cook for you again, you see that your mother is teaching us to make things. I went back for three days, and I was eating outside for two days. On the last day, my mother couldn't see it before I made me a meal.

But in fact, for so many years, Xiaofang's entire project has lost money. Because first of all, my professional knowledge is not in this one. Second, it also needs time to operate this brand. It needs to be promoted. My energy is not here, and there is no business talent. For a long time, I used the name "Qiao Xiaosi" to make sculptures to feed the project of Xiaofang.

But after so many years of doing it, I think the nourishment it brings to me is mutual. Just like you plant a flower, water it for it every day, or if you raise a pet, it looks like you take care of them, but in fact it also gives you a lot of things.

It broaden some of my viewing angles. My job is to poke a huge jellyfish with a toothpick. After poking, the jellyfish began to show its posture in the ocean. This attitude may be crazy, weird, and abnormal, and I am an observer that will observe the changes of the jellyfish and after its change, the changes in this sea area may be a butterfly effect. The real "Xiao Fang" is not these fabrics, but jellyfish and sea.

On the surface, this project seems to be expressed with wool, which is rich in color, but this is just its skin. This is not the same. We can also use grass, or bamboo, and any materials are not important. It's just that in my mother's era, in the town, they are good at this. The muscles of this work are related to today's reality. Their situation, their encounters, and their relationships in the times are integrated into this work.

Specifically, how much this project has brought them to them, I think it may be limited. The jellyfish is still jellyfish, and the nature cannot be changed. At most, this tentacle is a little bit, and the tentacles shrink a little. I never think that people can change people.

For my mother, this income that may be woven is not so important. Perhaps it is possible to subsidize a little home. You can buy a few body clothes in the square dance. But if she does not need a smartphone, her social scope is only the surrounding aunt. With her mobile phone, she knew at least Xiaofang and Taobao customer service, and took her to a wider area, and she had more contact with the world. I may care more about this. The town is too closed and her life is too narrow. She is a person who needs to be opened.

In the past few years, she has also been independent. She used to be entangled in me before, and now there are very few. She will entangle several of us staff. It is equivalent to her life more fulcrum. There are more people in life, and people will be more stable and healthier.

As for other aunts, I was thinking, just like the aunt who watched herself when we knitted the bad guy. She was willing to show this kind of scar and reveal it in this form. It was an openness in it. When you finally spread one thing, she may be relieved to form some kind of reconciliation with herself.

I think Xiaofang will be a wider project in the future. It may not only be in Sichuan aunt, Beijing's aunt, and even African aunts, aunts from various countries.

We have done a theme before, that is, letting the aunts weave ourselves "the standard configuration of the ideal life", which is actually everyone's Dream Life.Then I found that 99%of the aunts are ideal and amazing. They all have a car, a house, and a child. This is basically the same.Under our education system, everyone's ideology, values, and values judgment is not much different.However, in different countries, different educational backgrounds and historical structures, each individual's imagination of Dream Life should be very different.I hope this project can be more open and far -reaching in the future.No matter what kind of race, religion, complexion, class, art can surpass all this.

Auntie weave a huge pink hat together

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