We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ger/Ntxawg Xiong/Xyooj. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ger/Ntxawg below.
Ger/Ntxawg, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
One of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on was my Fulbright Fellowship to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have always been interested in researching Hmong craft and the history of our materials, patterns, and processes of our craft, specifically jewelry and textiles. My project involved researching, documenting, and collaborating with Hmong artisans within the Northern Thailand region. My main focus and region was around the Chiang Mai area and northern Hmong villages of Chiang Mai. Throughout this project, I was able to collaborate and work with two Hmong silversmiths where they taught me where their patterns came from, the process of creating a jewelry piece from scratch (silver grains to something wearable), learned their history and personal stories, and documented their process of creating. As a metalsmith, I was eager to learn from a Hmong master silversmith as most of my metalsmithing training came from academia training.
I was born in Chiang Kham refugee camp which was in Phayao Province, northeast of Chiang Mai Province. Though I was less than a year old before immigrating to the US, I was honored to be able to go back to the land that I was born in and retrace my roots as a Hmong American. One of my many goals is to go back to places that my parents and family have been and retrace our roots, learn our history, learn from the people that live there, and be in space with Hmong folks in these different regions. My personal interest is looking at the similarities of Hmong people living in the US verses Hmong people in various states within our diaspora after the US withdrew from the Vietnam War, asking questions such as, what are the consequences of war, displacement, colonization, erasure, and grief.
So throughout my research, I was interested in how commercialization and commodification have influenced and changed Hmong craft. Throughout my time here, I was able to communicate and talk with various Hmong folks such as Hmong wholesale shop owners, Hmong makers/artisans, Hmong art students at Chiang Mai University, Hmong folks in different villages, and have made friends that I am still in contact with. Creating these connections were really meaningful because we were able to chat about how we are navigating our identity in the states we are living in. My main area of interest was researching and looking at Hmong jewelry and textiles and asking about the history of patterns and colors within these works. I was interested in what makes something Hmong and how we claim Hmongness in these works. Thailand’s tourism plays a really big role within their economics and I was interested in how we change our craft to fit the needs and wants of the consumer in relation to how one may assimilate into the dominant culture to fit in. I find the commodification of our craft a metaphor to the assimilation process. My trip to Thailand has influenced and continues to influence my current work and research.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Ger Xiong/Ntxawg Xyooj and I am a visual artist with a background in metalsmithing and textiles. I went through the academic route where I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in metals and jewelry at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater (UWW) and my Master of Fine Arts at New Mexico State University (NMSU). I have always been interested in the arts and it’s at UWW that I found metalsmithing. I am trained as a metalsmith so a lot of my thinking usually comes through as a metalsmith but I work in various mediums and materials oftentimes creating wearable/jewelry artworks, object based works, textiles/tapestry, wall installation, and performance. My work is sometimes one of these and sometimes a mixture of these processes and disciplines. My work looks at the navigation and negotiation of cultural identity through my Hmong American experience that looks at the consequences of colonization, displacement, assimilation, erasure, and loss and grief. I draw influences from my Hmong history and culture, often utilizing Hmong patterns and colors into my work, exploring ways how I can reclaim my Hmong identity. I am very interested in materiality and process. An example of this is, I often utilize Americana materials such as Coca-Cola. I will drill into the materials and cross stitch Hmong patterns and colors on top of the cans as a way to reclaim my Hmong identity within these dominant materials.
I’m proud of the ways I create. As a maker, I am often thinking about the push and pull of retaining my Hmong culture and roots while exploring new ways of creating and making artworks. I want to be able to reimagine what Hmong art is and what it can be and I hope that my work also explores the depths and nuances of Hmong art.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My work has various goals but one of the goals is to push the boundaries of Hmong art. I think that Hmong art is often pigeonholed into a specific category that fits into the roles of “old” and “ancient”, that these are objects of the past even though they are still used in our every day. When museums and galleries showcase Hmong art, they are usually showcased in a way that gives anthropological viewpoints to them and I want to change that narrative and show that Hmong art can ask questions and challenge ideas and that there is more to Hmong art. I really am interested in being able to reimagine and rethink how we look at Hmong art.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist is to be able to sit, contemplate, and create. I think that it’s a privilege to be able to create and make artwork because there’s so much time that you need to set aside to create. And I think being able to think of an idea in my brain, sketch and draw that idea, and then create the physical object or artwork is really rewarding. I also really enjoy the processes of making and the problem solving that happens during the creation of the artworks. People often see the end result of the artwork but don’t see the in-betweens and nuances of creating. When I’m creating, I am also thinking about the history of the process that I am doing. I think it’s really amazing that I am cross stitching patterns that my ancestors did years ago or stamping patterns that the makers before me have done numerous times. This passing on knowledge and learning is really rewarding and I really enjoy all the different ways I am able to create and learn.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gerxiong.com
- Instagram: @gerxiong55
Image Credits
John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) – Last image of large necklace