To read this article in Spanish, click here.

---

Memories fleeting like the wings of a butterfly 

Reach out and hold them gently

The static from the television is

grazing your cheek ever so slightly 

scraping those glimmering speckles 

Promise to preserve them 

for futures of futures to come

 [A poem in response to Dear Grandpa]

---

Entering Open Shed to view Thương Hoài Trần’s solo exhibition Dear Grandpa, I was greeted by the smell of wood and television noise. Dear Grandpa features a series of photographic installations coupled with textile pieces that explore the relationship among memory, family bonds, and the immigrant experience. 

I walk towards a ghost-like apparition of a woman in a red dress. This is ThroKỷ Niệm Ngày Cưới: Projection, a digital light projection on three layers of metallic organza. As I step in between the first two layers, I become a part of this exhibition, experiencing the grappling between consciousness that is explored throughout Trần’s work. Maneuvering around the exhibition, I notice a recurring image of a person. Later, I find out the person is Trần’s grandfather, Thao Minh Tran, whose presence in the family’s photographic archive serves as a focal point for the artist’s exploration. It seems Trần’s pieces have clues that he wants us to uncover. Dear Grandpa was the first exhibition to open at Open Shed, an innovative satellite space managed by LMRM—also known as the “loom room”—run by Hope Wang and Murat Ahmed. LMRM supports textile-based artists by providing a platform to both create and exhibit artworks. After weaving works at LMRM, Trần put together Dear Grandfather at Open Shed. Trần also gave a complimentary artist talk at LMRM—an event further encouraging artists to foster a dialogue of exchange with their audience and build their practice.

Trần’s artworks in Dear Grandpa combine textile techniques with personal archival materials, like photographs, as a metaphor for the intricate process of remembering and connecting with one’s heritage. Specifically, Trần reflects on the impact of displacement, generational disconnect, and cultural complexities on familial memory. Memory, after all, can be so fragile. What we think we remember is vastly different from what our loved ones do. Trần’s photographs and textiles create a visual dialogue about the immigrant experience and the passage of time. How does one go about filling in some of these gaps found in familial history? Are there proper ways to fill in these gaps? For example, in Offerings, four-layered screen prints on metallic organza with gold metallic trim are duplicates of the same image of Trần’s grandfather. The screen prints were all in a greyscale, with some faded more than others. Here we see the relationship between the archival photos by quite literally filling in the gaps. Through Trần’s weaving, they experience these moments from a distant perspective while unpacking these familial histories at the same time; they are building a new connection with framing the works. Within the unpacking of looking at familial archives, Trần is creating a new family tree to intertwine both photographic and textile elements.

In the same building as Open Shed is Latitude Chicago, whose exhibition on view is Reflections of a Young Woman: Photographs from the Archive of Shigeko Kumamoto, a show by Ken Carl featuring the work of Shigeko Kumamoto. The photographs show a Japanese American 14-year-old girl who was interned by the United States government in 1943 and other familial memories. In both Reflections of a Young Woman and Dear Grandpa, I start to grasp the use of memory building in traumatic and familial instances to form missing pieces in history but overall for oneself. 

Reflecting on how memories are reconstructed and reinterpreted over time, I view both Trần’s Dear Grandpa video and Kỷ Niệm Ngày Cưới: Dark Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow handwoven jacquard, cotton, and wool weaving. Both of these works offer a form of static. I think of television static as an in-between notion. You can sometimes make out the program if you are familiar with the channel but otherwise, you are filling in the gaps. As you hear the static and words from the television playing Dear Grandpa on a loop, while viewing Kỷ Niệm Ngày Cưới, there’s a connection brewing. The purposeful streaks in the weaving also convey static. Trần is unearthing family history while simultaneously working to fill in those gaps. Filling in gaps can often be done by talking and exchanging stories with family members and, if that isn’t possible, then it can by done by researching using photography and letters. Trần pushes us to view the static not as a nuisance but a new tool to reflect on our missing family histories. Dear Grandpa guides viewers through a story from clear, vivid memories to more abstract, fragmented representations. The process of remembering and emphasizing the shifting and evolving nature of personal recollections results in an immersive experience that invites viewers to reflect deeply with their own histories and how memories can be preserved yet transformed all at once.

“Dear Grandpa” was on view at Open Shed April 28 – June 16, 2024. “Reflections of a Young Woman: Photographs from the Archive of Shigeko Kumamoto” was on view at Latitude Chicago April 28 – May 18, 2024.

---