詹妮弗·k·森田著

2023年1月23日

The story of the Hmong people – their traditions, folktales, daily lives, and diaspora across the globe – can be seen in garments, story cloths, and other textiles on display in a new exhibit at 萨克拉门托 State.

“以布为共同体：穿针引线的过去、现在和未来” 探索苗族纺织品和时尚，提供洞察他们的历史和文化在多个大陆和国家。

The exhibit in the 大学图书馆廊 and the 唐纳德和贝弗利·格斯特别收藏和大学档案, features full traditional outfits borrowed from private citizens, as well as large story cloths, garments, and other textile pieces from 囊状态’s own collection.

开幕招待会定于2月2日（周四）下午5:30在图书馆画廊和特别馆藏举行。 “布作为社区”将在大学图书馆画廊展出至2月25日，在唐纳德和贝弗利·格斯特别收藏和大学档案馆展出至5月19日。

加州是苗族人口最多的州。 萨克拉门托是3.2万苗族人的家园，在该州仅次于弗雷斯诺。

“We wanted to amplify and highlight the Hmong-American contribution to the 萨克拉门托 area,” said Chao Vang of the University’s Student Academic Success and Educational Equity Programs (SASEEP). “We’re a growing population, not only on campus, but in the community.”

The University 图书馆 collection includes books, documents, photos, textiles, clothing and everyday artifacts from Hmong and Southeast Asian cultures, said James Fox, head of Special Collections and University Archives. The collection came to 囊状态 from the Refugees Educators’ Network in fall 2006.

2019年，萨克州立大学（囊状态）支持东南亚学生的项目苗族项目（Project HMONG）开始计划使用私人公民和特别收藏的作品举办“布作为社区”展览。

萨克拉门托地区研究苗族和东南亚纺织品的专家麦杨·托尔（Mai Yang Thor）和帕奇亚·露西·杨（Pachia Lucy Vang）策划了这次展览。

“Textiles have always been very important to the Hmong people,” Pachia Vang (no relation to Chao Vang) said. “I didn’t feel connected to it growing up, and somewhere along the way, I realized its importance and how it has such a strong, cultural value to our beliefs.

“It threads together our community. People may not always understand that, and hopefully this exhibit shares that.”

展览包括故事布、描绘村庄日常生活的装饰物以及神话和民间故事的例子。

Pachia Vang说，这个故事布的传统是在20世纪80年代发展起来的，当时许多苗族人逃离了饱受战争蹂躏的家园，住在泰国的难民营里。 在没有广泛的书面语言的情况下，他们把自己的故事记录在布上，后来出售碎片谋生。

“They’ve become a really integral part of our textile traditions,” she said. “They were used to literally tell their stories.

“Textiles have always been known as being this lost ancient writing system that we no longer understand or use, but we continue to put on our clothes as a way to communicate who we are.”

一个故事布描绘了一个苗族村庄典型的一年，从清理耕地、收割和储存小麦开始； 求爱和婚礼； 和新年庆祝活动。

“It threads together our community. People may not always understand that, and hopefully this exhibit shares that.” -- Pachia Vang, exhibit co-curator

展出的主要故事布描绘了来自中国、越南、缅甸、老挝和泰国难民营的苗族侨民。

“This is a moving story about folks who came to our country, many of them in the wake of the war in Southeast Asia, made a new home for themselves, and carried on their traditions,” Fox said.

Chao Vang说，他希望苗族学生能通过“布料”展览看清自己。

“It also gives parents and grandparents a bit of ease and confidence that if they send their children to 囊状态 they will feel they belong here and are seen, and that there’s a place for them,” he said.

The exhibit’s original planned 2020 opening was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 这一延迟或许是一件幸事。

收藏与发现副院长大卫·吉布斯（David Gibbs）从格拉迪斯·克里布尔·德尔马斯基金会（Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation）获得了13710美元的赠款，使图书馆能够将藏品中的245件物品数字化，并购买档案质量的存储盒。

“The collection is much larger,” said Digital Initiatives Librarian Elyse Fox (no relation to James Fox). “It’s several thousand items, but most of them are books or manuscripts.

“Our collection is really unique because of the artifacts that are examples of people’s daily lives. It’s a great resource for the community.”

数字化档案材料使每个人都能接触到它，并保存了文物，因为处理它们的人更少了。

囊状态’s Southeast Asian collection is accessible and receiving page views on JSTOR, a digital library used by researchers all over the world.

Digitized items from the Southeast Asia collection are available on the 图书馆’s 数码馆藏网站.

“There isn’t a lot of digital content available for folks who want to do research on Hmong or Southeast Asian textiles,” Elyse Fox said. “It’s having a national and international impact, and online collections are also used to inform creative work.

“Because this collection is unique, and we have so many artifacts that represent the daily lives of people, it’s really meaningful for not only the local community but for researchers around the world.”