Tcheu Siong
APT9
Born 1947 Luang Prabang Province, Laos
Lives and works in Luang Prabang, Laos
Tcheu Siong is an ethnic Hmong artist whose unique, large-scale textile works capture her own dreams and visions in connection to her Hmong ancestry and spirituality. Like many Hmong people, Siong had to leave her homelands in northern Laos and move to the city of Luang Prabang in the late 1990s, where she began to make traditional embroideries to sell in the tourist-frequented markets. She gradually developed her own hand-stitched appliqué style, creating colourful pieces more than four metres long that feature elaborate imagery and patterning. Her work depicts a range of figures and creatures that are identified within the Hmong spiritual world by her shaman husband, Phasao Lao. While the Lao Hmong are known for both their decorative and narrative textiles, Siong demonstrates a unique approach, departing from traditional design to create an experimental form of contemporary art.
Rathin Barman / India b.1981 / Notes from Lived Spaces 2 2021 / Cast concrete and pigments / Courtesy: the artist and Experimenter Gallery / © Rathin Barman
Textiles form an intrinsic part of Hmong ceremonial custom, alongside oral traditions, poetry and mythological beliefs, while embroidery, appliqué and piecework contain keys to sacred symbols. Siong moved from the mountains in northern Laos to the city of Luang Prabang in 1996, where, like many Hmong women, she made traditional embroidery to sell in tourist markets. She then started to experiment, eventually giving up traditional styles and methods in favour of her own distinct practice, through which she could express her dreams and visions and their relationship to the Hmong spiritual world.
In the centre of her largest appliqué, she depicts Chong Xoua, known as a kind man who carries silver and gold trees to those in need. On either side are the Black Wolf Spirit, a fierce jungle animal from ages past, and the Ice Spirit, which can change the weather to freezing conditions. Phasao Lao, the artist’s husband and a Hmong shaman, identifies the figures and creatures from the spiritual pantheon for his wife’s works, while the appliqué techniques, originally taught to her by her mother, Siong now shares with her daughter, who assists in their creation.
