Yingran Xu

Embroidery——From Ha Ni to Aqkaq

The story begins with my valuing of my ethnic identity. When I deeply realized that I am Ha Ni, I tried to discover everything about my ethnicity and culture from this complex world. Throughout the research process of this project, I went through the journey of finding that ethnic minorities are being marginalized. Therefore, my core direction is to explore the causes of this situation or to find a way to confront inappropriate expressions. Later on, through learning and making embroidery, I seem to be able to see more. I incorporated all of my experiences into traditional Ha Ni embroidery patterns and realistic photographs, representing how I understand my people, how I have conversations with my fellow Ha Ni, and examine our way of life and culture. The embroidery poster is the beginning and introduction of my entire work. I learned and analyzed the meaning and source of traditional embroidery patterns from the book, and incorporated them into my design language to tell the audience a story about me and the Akha, what I saw in the Akha, and what I wanted to do. For audiences who are not familiar with this work, it is almost impossible to extract information from it, but they are still attracted by the rich colors and handicrafts. I think that without providing more information or background from my other works, this poster can only be used to spread and appreciate the beautiful embroidery craft, especially if it is converted into a picture taken by a phone, it will further lose its meaning. This rapid process of dissemination is what constitutes the process of making ethnic culture flat and marginalized.

“Through exploring my own ethnic minority culture and reflecting on the impact and influences of modern society on the life and cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, my work uses embroidery to interpret the intrinsic meaning of the culture. The patterns are used to express the theme and language of the embroidery, conveying the current marginalized status, contradictions, and difficulties of ethnic minorities, while also exploring and depicting the possibility of using ethnic characteristics and handicrafts for visual communication.Through this series of embroidered works, I hope to fully express the essence of this culture, using simple and profound design language to evoke emotions in the audience, and to spark reflection on the current social situation and ethnic issues.”