Ghi chú 12
Bà Mụ về
sự tạo thành
con Cóc
The Twelve
Midwives' notes on creating the Toad
Art Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Medium
Medium: Charcoal, Ink & Handmade Watercolor made from cinnabar on Dướng Paper (Vietnamese Traditional Paper)
Quantity: 12 pieces
Size per pieces: 60 x 80 cm
Artwork Statement
The series "The Twelve Midwives’ Notes of Creating the Toad" is a collection of works inspired by the concept of "A Brief Before Human".
It features 12 fictional letters and sketches exchanged among 12 midwives as they endeavor to create the form of a toad at the request of the Jade Emperor. In Asian folklore, especially in Vietnamese culture, the 12 midwives (mothers) are revered as the beings who harness the essence of the heavens and the earth to bring humans into existence. The artist utilized the toad as a symbolic representation of herself to convey a personal narrative in a more intimate manner.
Through the conversations of the 12 midwives, the work delves into the genesis of humanity, representing the artist's own personality through the toad.
2024
Letter 1
Heaven proclaimed a decree, I must form a creature named Toad
Warty skin, hatched from one hundred eggs,
I gave you this body
I began with a dot, a tail as yang spirit, a trunk as yin spirit, taking humankind for reference
This form, you shall receive
I foresaw
A destiny full of tragicomedy with God and the land of living.
Letter 2
Tiny body
I drew for you
a head
I formed in you
a thought
Haughty – cocky
I gave you a chance
To confront the truth
Confront the god
Confront us the fairy creatures
Letter 3
Rumor had it
Your father, and your mom
Neither listen nor speak
Uttered croaks
No one heard
From the old to the young
From round ponds to square roads
What was sound
What was tone
They knew none
I formed for you
An ear canal
And a pharynx
Gaped open your mouth, or croaked loudly
Echoed beyond the dome of the sky where you were born.
Letter 4
I picked for you two rocks from the Milky Way
For the days to come
Your eyes
Shall yearn
Shall look up
Shall long for
Lights of the moon and stars
*Lying by the pond’s corner, a toad
Waiting to catch stars above the sky”
Vietnamese folk and proverbs
Letter 5
I took for you
These legs
From the snake by the pond
For you to replace her
To wander the world
Go beyond the dry well
Shed your birth form
Live the life you perceive.
*A tale explaining why frogs and toads got legs and snakes lost theirs