COTTON
In the process of harvesting rubber, workers make incisions on the tree trunk to allow latex to seep out, and they insert metal plates into the cuts to guide the latex into bowls for collection. This process relies on both the nurturing of the natural environment and human labor, each being indispensable. The cotton threads in different colors used in this woven tapestry are largely sourced from hand-spun yarns by female weavers in Lao villages, with colors dyed using plants in their daily surroundings. The tapestry combines these color threads that have the vitality of Lao soil with Taiwan’s plant dying to depict the image of rubber latex dripping from the rubber tree, once again pointing out the inseparable connection between human life and land environment. At the same time, the interwoven weft threads and the emerging lines in the tapestry metaphorically reflect the time and labor involved in the processes of cotton and rubber tree cultivation and harvesting.