Hmong Students Visit COPIA
Recently, COPIA hosted nearly 90 Hmong students from Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California to tour our gardens and exhibitions. I came into work early that morning feeling anxious about how I would explain our exhibition, Transplanting Culture: Hmong Gardeners in America, as the students are just learning English. For that matter, most arrived in the United States only six months ago from refugee camps in Thailand. I even chuckled thinking that if communication wasn’t an issue they could better tell me about the exhibition. After all, it’s their story!
My worries were immediately evaporated by their excitement, curiosity and eagerness. What energy! COPIA’s modern, monumental presence was a new experience. I tried to imagine what that must be like in contrast to the refugee camp, where multiple families live in barracks and lack running water, and where education is too costly. But, differences aside, the kids were soon absorbed by familiar territory—COPIA’s lush organic gardens, and our exhibition about Hmong culture and their gardening practices. As an ancient agrarian society, Hmong are master gardeners.
Watching the students pour over the exhibition will vividly live with me always. The power of visuals took over. They huddled in front of the PaNdau (story cloth) pointing and tracing their ancestor’s flight from Laos after U.S. troop withdrawal from Vietnam—a perilous journey through jungles, across the Mekong River to refugee camps in Thailand. They had lengthy discussions about the Hmong plant specimens on display. What a curiosity to see plants that they cultivate as pressed materials displayed as something special. Out came paper and pencils for making notes about new information such as medicinal or cooking uses. The exhibition’s video brought them to a standstill. In it, Hmong, Chinese and African-American students from Sacramento’s Grant Union High School conduct interviews with Hmong at work in their community garden. I know this inspired them with plans they have for their own garden project.
But, a special highlight for them—and for me—was when they saw the oral history featuring their classmate, Ma, and her family. This was the final realization that the exhibition was their story, too. I realized that I was witnessing a transplanted culture discover themselves amongst the diversity and richness in America, where there’s a place for everyone.
We received word recently informing us to look forward to small books made by the students comparing and contrasting food production in the COPIA gardens from food production at the Jelly Belly factory they visited on their return to Sacramento. I’d like to think we’re on to something.
Deborah Gangwer
Associate Curator of Exhibitions
My worries were immediately evaporated by their excitement, curiosity and eagerness. What energy! COPIA’s modern, monumental presence was a new experience. I tried to imagine what that must be like in contrast to the refugee camp, where multiple families live in barracks and lack running water, and where education is too costly. But, differences aside, the kids were soon absorbed by familiar territory—COPIA’s lush organic gardens, and our exhibition about Hmong culture and their gardening practices. As an ancient agrarian society, Hmong are master gardeners.
Watching the students pour over the exhibition will vividly live with me always. The power of visuals took over. They huddled in front of the PaNdau (story cloth) pointing and tracing their ancestor’s flight from Laos after U.S. troop withdrawal from Vietnam—a perilous journey through jungles, across the Mekong River to refugee camps in Thailand. They had lengthy discussions about the Hmong plant specimens on display. What a curiosity to see plants that they cultivate as pressed materials displayed as something special. Out came paper and pencils for making notes about new information such as medicinal or cooking uses. The exhibition’s video brought them to a standstill. In it, Hmong, Chinese and African-American students from Sacramento’s Grant Union High School conduct interviews with Hmong at work in their community garden. I know this inspired them with plans they have for their own garden project.
But, a special highlight for them—and for me—was when they saw the oral history featuring their classmate, Ma, and her family. This was the final realization that the exhibition was their story, too. I realized that I was witnessing a transplanted culture discover themselves amongst the diversity and richness in America, where there’s a place for everyone.
We received word recently informing us to look forward to small books made by the students comparing and contrasting food production in the COPIA gardens from food production at the Jelly Belly factory they visited on their return to Sacramento. I’d like to think we’re on to something.
Deborah Gangwer
Associate Curator of Exhibitions
