Smithsonian Folklife Festival to begin, wood sculpture welcomes visitors
As the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival quickly approaches, the National Mall in Washington, DC resonates with the sounds of hammers on wood as workers prepare the stages, tents, and other physical structures that will house the myriad participants teaching mall visitors about everything from the culture and history of Mexico to the foodways and community experiences of Asian Pacific Americans today to how exhibitions at the Smithsonian are put together.
Standing under the over 90-degree (maybe even 100-degree) heat, quietly waiting for the festival to start, a structure of wooden panels seem particularly welcoming in a grassy area under the trees. Upon closer inspection, names and words of greeting in at least four or five different languages are beginning to fill this signature wall.
Designed by Foon Sham, professor of fine arts at the University of Maryland, College Park, this wooden sculpture resembles a giant guest book. Visitors and passers-by of the National Mall over the course of the Folklife Festival are asked to sign it with their names and contribute one-word descriptions of themselves or their professions.
The presence of the wooden sculptures symbolizes a welcoming to visitors of all backgrounds. This is significant because such a welcome was not always the case for Asian Pacific Americans—both native-born Americans and more recent immigrants—as can be seen in the various exclusion acts in U.S. history. Signing the sculpture along its vertical panels reminds us that, in context of a globalizing world, languages are not always written horizontally from left to right. Specifically, it reminds us of the several Asian languages written vertically. While the signatures on the wood will fade over time (as purposefully designed), the memories created at the Festival will not disappear but will affect us and our global relations for years to come.
Foon Sham is also the artist of The Glory of the Chinese Descendents, a wall sculpture at the Chinatown-Gallery Place metro station leading into Chinatown in Washington, DC.
Be sure to come visit the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which runs June 24-28 and July 1-5, 2010, everyday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the Mall with evening events throughout the greater DC area after 5:30 p.m.
Check the Folklife Festival website for the full schedule and more details.
[…] “Guestbook” continues to be filled with names and messages, a witness to the diversity of visitors who have come, emphasizing the theme of the first day, Celebrating our Diversity. […]