TẰM TẰM , Walyalup Fremantle Arts centre ‘ In Our Hands We Hold,’ 2026.

hand tied knots with curbside Karawun and Buffle grass, gold foil, and blue polypropylene strapping, approximately 3.8 m x 2.5 m.

Losing their farmland to nationwide redistribution policies after the war in Vietnam, my family survived by raising silkworms.

Đan né _ is the process of making baskets, nets, feeding trays and cocoon frames from bamboo and grass. We would go foraging for white mulberry leaves to feed the silkworms and collected weeds, grasses and plant fibres to weave at night. For silkworms to weave coccons, we had to constantly weave for them. 

Tàm dút _ once fed, the silkworms would withdraw to completely empty their bowels through the gaps in the feeding trays and nets before they would be able to spin their cocoon.

Bát tàm đôi _ if two silkworms happened to start spinning side-by-side, one had to be sacrificed and carefully removed to ensure the quality of the remaining cocoon. If the second larva failed to relatch elsewhere, then these detatched silkworms could be cooked and eaten as a valuable protein source during times of famine and unpredictability.