On the occasion of May 18, "International Museum Day," we received a special task: to serve as a one-day museum curator at the "Memory on Hands Museum". Located at Wenggong Village, Guanshanhu District, Guiyang, "Memory on Hands Museum" is a display and experience center for traditional national intangible cultural heritage skills, combining functions such as international cultural exchange, exchange of intangible cultural heritage craftsmen, academic lectures, and city support for cultural inheritance and experience activities. Currently, the museum has a collection of nearly 6200 pieces of batik, embroidery, and folk objects. How can we successfully complete the task of "One-Day Curator"? Come with us to find out!
On May 18, the "International Museum Day" arrived as scheduled.
2024年，国际博协为国际博物馆日定下的主题是“博物馆致力于教育和研究”（Museums for Education and Research）。
Museums collect history, but museum research and education lead to life and the future.
On this day, we did not choose to be a quiet visitor in the majestic museum in the city, but received a mysterious mission - to go to the museum hidden in the mountains and be the "museum director" for a day.
About 20 kilometers from downtown Guiyang, along the tea mountain into the winding country road, a piece of blue suddenly appeared in front of me. Located in Weng Gong Village, Jinhua Town, Guanshanhu District, the Hand Memory Museum is hidden in a lush greenery.
Green tiles and red bricks, spring grass and summer flowers, cats and dogs pacing leisurely, surrounded by the chirping of chickens and birds and the smell of grass after the rain, make this place like an independent paradise. And walk in, and you'll find that it's more like a portal to the ancient world.
"This is the Miao batik in the Zhijin area, and the pattern on it is an ancient sunbird, which is painted by dot painting."
"Nayong's batik is mainly hand-painted lines, and the patterns are based on their mythological stories."
"The patterns of Danzhai are all rotating, like a celestial body, symbolizing sun worship."
..............
Under the leadership of Wang Xiaomei, the director of the Hand Memory Museum, we wandered in the light and shadow of history, listening to her tell the blue veins in the patterns.
More than 2,000 square meters and 6,200 pieces of collections collect the memories of Xiaomei's hands collected in various villages in Guizhou.
Patterns, batik, costumes, shades of blue constitute the color spectrum in the museum, reflecting the brilliance of different regions and different eras, conveying the ancient philosophy of life, and connecting the spiritual resonance of man and nature, individuals and ethnic groups.
From collecting the first touch of blue to becoming a curator, more than 20 years of accumulation and precipitation have made Xiaomei familiar with the story behind each item, which can make us difficult, how can we be qualified for the role of "curator" in just one day?
"The first step to becoming a curator is actually 'liking', as long as you are interested and involved, you will get off to a good start as a curator." Curator Xiaomei said with a smile. In the dual world of skill and memory, listening to the meaning of the patterns, touching the imprints of thousands of years, the echoes from ancient times have firmly grasped us. I think we've taken our first steps as curators.
So what's the second step in becoming a curator? Curator Xiaomei told us that the memory in our hands is not only "memory", but also "skill".
In the rice field handicraft workshop of the Memory Museum, the village maidens are dressed in blue, depicting carefully, and in the dye vat behind them, blue indigo is quietly breathing.
Batik is not an art that is hung on the wall just for viewing, but also a craft that records beauty and life. The wax knife circulates on the white cloth, and the fingertips connect with the ancient memories, and each creation awakens these memories to life, blooming new blue flowers.
The tip of the knife is lightly drawn, time passes, the sun sets on the mountain, and the beauty flowing in the heart is frozen in blue and white.
After the rain, the weather was fine, put down the wax knife, and the women walked out of the museum. The murmuring water all the way, the fragrance of flowers and birds, and the greetings and laughter with the neighbors I met along the way, I arrived at my home within a few dozen meters.
In the museum of this village, there is a resurrected life inside the museum, and the real life outside the museum.
It is as if we have become a blue indigo grass that grows freely in the native fields, rooted in the soil of art and absorbing the aura of nature. At this moment, we seem to understand the words in front of the museum: "This is a hometown that we can go back to".
Source: Guizhou Daily Tianyan News