Sisavanh Phouthavong
  • News
  • Exhibitions
    • 2023 Wore / Fair
    • 2022 UAG: Sewanee, TN
    • 2022 Bagwell Gallery
    • 2022 Thessaloniki, Greece
    • 2022 Knoxville Museum
    • 2021 Gadsden Museum
    • 2021 KCKCC
    • 2021 Slocumb Gallery ETSU
    • 2020 Minnesota Museum
    • 2020 Asian Arts Initiative
    • 2020 Tinney Contemporary
    • 2019 Tipton Gallery ETSU
    • 2018 Hunter Museum
    • 2018 Lauren Rogers Museum
  • About
    • Resume
    • Reviews & Publications
  • 2D
    • 2022
    • Glimpses of Lives Interrupted
    • 2021
    • This Land was Made
    • 2020
    • Quantify Tactical Zone
    • Disillusioned
    • Indirect Traffic
    • 2019 >
      • Unstable
      • Rain 1-20 >
        • Rain 21-40
        • Rain 41-60
        • Rain 61-80
        • Rain 81-100
    • 2018 >
      • Clustered Debris
      • Aftermath
      • Secret War on Laos: UXO
      • Crumbling Facade
      • Secret War Part 2
    • 2017 >
      • Legacies of War
      • Nong Khai
      • Re-Imagined Space
      • Defied Structures
  • 3D
    • 2023 Wore / Fair
    • 2021 Interminable Suspension 2021
    • 2020 Transparent Voices
    • 2020 Clustered Bomblets
  • Archive
    • Displacement: Citizenship
    • Evanescent 2016
    • Chicago 2016
    • Deliberate Moments 2016
    • Birds and Insects
    • Bronze
    • Wood
    • Aluminum
  • Store
Artist Statement: 

Title: “WoreFair”: Memorial
 
This work is part of the series “All Wars are the Same War.” The terrain, conflicts, and disputes may vary, but the human war experience does not. I am dedicating this memorial to all mothers who have been affected by wars. The abundance of memorial sites filled with flowers and memorabilia affects me emotionally as a mother. The curved shape sculpture mimics a pregnant woman, and industrial steel symbolizes endurance and resilience. Hundreds of hand casted colorful candy-like plastic flowers speak about how war disregards human lives. Throughout centuries, the significance of flowers has been given out during celebratory times and as a gift of sympathy. I chose to take the word Warfare apart and use its homophone. “Wore” and “Fair” is spelled in all white flowers. “Wore” is a homophone for the word “War,” and “Fair” is the homophone for “Fare”. The act of war wears thin on everyone, and war is not fair for both sides. White symbolizes death, innocence, and purity in some cultures, and it rings true in my Laotian culture. I chose warm colors to speak about love, death, and motherhood. Dates of all wars written on the back remind us that humans could learn from the past.

Medium: hand cast resin flowers, spray paint and metal
Size: 70 inches (L) x 24 inches (W) x 36 inches (H)
Site: James Polk Museum, Columbia, Tennessee
Studio Assistance: Jarrod Houghton and Zoe Houghton 
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  • News
  • Exhibitions
    • 2023 Wore / Fair
    • 2022 UAG: Sewanee, TN
    • 2022 Bagwell Gallery
    • 2022 Thessaloniki, Greece
    • 2022 Knoxville Museum
    • 2021 Gadsden Museum
    • 2021 KCKCC
    • 2021 Slocumb Gallery ETSU
    • 2020 Minnesota Museum
    • 2020 Asian Arts Initiative
    • 2020 Tinney Contemporary
    • 2019 Tipton Gallery ETSU
    • 2018 Hunter Museum
    • 2018 Lauren Rogers Museum
  • About
    • Resume
    • Reviews & Publications
  • 2D
    • 2022
    • Glimpses of Lives Interrupted
    • 2021
    • This Land was Made
    • 2020
    • Quantify Tactical Zone
    • Disillusioned
    • Indirect Traffic
    • 2019 >
      • Unstable
      • Rain 1-20 >
        • Rain 21-40
        • Rain 41-60
        • Rain 61-80
        • Rain 81-100
    • 2018 >
      • Clustered Debris
      • Aftermath
      • Secret War on Laos: UXO
      • Crumbling Facade
      • Secret War Part 2
    • 2017 >
      • Legacies of War
      • Nong Khai
      • Re-Imagined Space
      • Defied Structures
  • 3D
    • 2023 Wore / Fair
    • 2021 Interminable Suspension 2021
    • 2020 Transparent Voices
    • 2020 Clustered Bomblets
  • Archive
    • Displacement: Citizenship
    • Evanescent 2016
    • Chicago 2016
    • Deliberate Moments 2016
    • Birds and Insects
    • Bronze
    • Wood
    • Aluminum
  • Store