These painted bamboo sticks evoke tools used by lost cultures to measure the passage of time. The markings suggest notations of size in anthropological photographs of such artifacts. Two phrases are painted on the hanging latex strips. “Bamboo city” refers both to the safe areas and watering holes used by American soldiers during the Vietnam War and to the refugee camps that emerged along the Cambodian and Thai borders. “Chinese porcelain” references the historical trade economy between China and the Netherlands that relied on Vietnamese ports. For Sietsema the sticks also act as metaphors for his movement through time periods while researching his projects.
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