Hair embroidery originated in the Shangyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. It is embroidery made of human hair. Dongtai, Jiangsu is the hometown of hair embroidery in China.

Recently, Guo Xiaoqi, a 27-year-old girl working in Suzhou, created a group of portraits of "Women with Wenmian of the Dulong ethnic group", which has attracted the attention of many netizens.

These works are embroidered one stitch at a time with the hair of the grandmothers of the Dulong ethnic group "with tattooed faces".

　　Guo Xiaoqi is a girl from Liaoning. She started to learn about hair embroidery in her sophomore year, and later studied under Zhou Yinghua, "the first person in China's hair embroidery".

Starting in 2022, she set out to collect the hair of 55 ethnic minority women for creation, and has currently completed the works of the Dulong, Bai and Jinuo ethnic groups.

Yesterday morning, a reporter from the Ziniu News of the Yangtze Evening News came to Guo Xiaoqi’s home in Xiangcheng District, Suzhou City, and listened to her story about making hair embroidery portraits for "face-painted women" grandmas.

　　Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Yan Chunxu

　　her plan

Using hair to create portraits of "tattooed women"

　　On the morning of February 26, a reporter from Ziniu News of the Yangtze Evening News came to Guo Xiaoqi's home in Xiangcheng District, Suzhou City.

The living room of Guo Xiaoqi's home is filled with a large number of hair embroidery works, and her study room has become a small hair embroidery warehouse.

One of the most notable is the latest work "village, woman".

She started creating in 2022, and plans to spend 10 to 15 years collecting the hair of 55 ethnic minority women to create a series of hair embroidery works.

Guo Xiaoqi has currently completed the works of the Dulong, Bai and Jinuo ethnic groups, and is expected to complete the works of the She and Yi ethnic groups next month.

　　Dulong is the first stop of Guo Xiaoqi's "Village, Women" series of works. Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County is located in the southwest border of my country, where there are the last batch of "face-painted women" grandmothers in China.

Face tattooing is an ancient custom of the Dulong nationality that has been followed for thousands of years. In the past, when a girl was 13 or 14 years old, the elders would cut thorn vines from the wild, or use bone needles or bamboo sticks, dipped in pot ash soaked in water, and follow the drawn pattern. , stuck on the face of a young girl, and when the scab falls off, the girl's face will be left with an indigo pattern.

　　Guo Xiaoqi consulted with relevant local government departments.

Only then did she know that there are only 16 living grandmothers with tattooed faces, and they are generally over 80 years old, and the oldest grandmother is over 100 years old.

"We don't know when they will leave us. When they leave one day, it is actually the moment when this culture disappears. I want to use hair embroidery skills to create portraits for them, so as to preserve a culture that is about to disappear."

　　Guo Xiaoqi told the reporter that it was very difficult at the beginning of the Dulong investigation. The form is integrated into their lives, "they will gradually develop trust in me, and finally they are willing to give me their hair."

The grandmas said: The photos taken before did not look like this

　　Guo Xiaoqi does not know the Dulong language, so she needs a translator to complete her daily work.

After a period of time, she found that the local people were very kind. "When I really integrated into everyone's life, I could feel the friendliness of each other. The grandmas looked at me very softly, and they would hold my hand and make me feel warm." .”

　　In order to complete the portrait of the grandmother of the Dulong "face-painted woman", Guo Xiaoqi spent two months in the early stage of investigation and research, and lived in the village for another two weeks.

During her creative process, a grandma asked curiously: "What kind of art do you want to make with my hair? Can you take a photo and send it to me when it's done?" After hearing what this grandma said, Guo Xiaoqi was deeply touched and temporarily decided to create in a local hotel.

　　"The schedule was very busy at that time, and in order to complete these works, I had very little sleep time every day." Guo Xiaoqi took these works back to show to her grandma. One of the grandma was very moved after reading the works, and patted Guo Xiaoqi on the shoulder and said: "You did a great job! No one else took pictures of me before." At that moment, Guo Xiaoqi was touched like never before. She felt that her artistic creation had been recognized. "Grandma thinks it's enough , and that’s what I insist on.”

　　In October 2022, she made these 6 works into engravings, wrote down her blessings to the grandmother of the "face tattoo girl", and mailed them to the local staff in Gongshan County. "The staff specially gave these works to the grandmas. I was very happy to see them. I don't know when I will see them next time, but I think this experience is very valuable for me, and for the 'Tatted Face Girl' grandma."

　　her wish

Under the tutelage of "the first person in hair embroidery" has created more than 50 works

　　27-year-old Guo Xiaoqi is from Liaoning. In 2013, she was admitted to Suzhou University of Science and Technology to study film and television editing and directing.

Talking about the story of getting married with hair embroidery, she laughed cheerfully.

When she returned to her hometown in Liaoning during the summer vacation when she was a sophomore, she saw the information posted by the teacher in the class group that Zhou Yinghua, the "first person in hair embroidery in China", recruited students, and immediately took the high-speed train back to Suzhou.

　　Born in a family of embroidery, Zhou Yinghua is a master of arts and crafts in Jiangsu Province and a senior artist of arts and crafts.

Guo Xiaoqi said that Teacher Zhou Yinghua had an exhibition of hair embroidery in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Hall of Nanjing Museum, and needed personnel to explain it on the spot. "Mr. Zhou didn't have time, so I became the explainer in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Hall."

　　After returning to Suzhou from Nanjing, Guo Xiaoqi became more and more fond of hair embroidery, so she asked Zhou Yinghua: "I like hair embroidery very much, can I learn from you on weekends or when there are no classes."

　　With Zhou Yinghua's encouragement and support, Guo Xiaoqi spent all her spare time learning hair embroidery.

In the second semester of her senior year, she simply went to Zhou Yinghua's studio for an internship, and entered Zhou Yinghua's studio after graduation.

　　In Zhou Yinghua's studio, Guo Xiaoqi has a stage to realize her dream.

She is busy from 8 o'clock to 17 o'clock every day, and even goes to the studio to study on weekends.

With the support of Zhou Yinghua, Guo Xiaoqi created some new works, participated in exhibitions, won some awards, and gradually gained recognition.

　　Guo Xiaoqi said: "To learn how to embroider, you must not only be able to embroider, but also have very high requirements for meticulous painting. You can start to embroider only after the restoration degree of the painting reaches 80% to 90%." She said that when embroidering, you must master various Needlework, "In order to practice needlework, I spent two years learning silk embroidery."

　　In the past 8 years, Guo Xiaoqi has created more than 50 hair embroidery works.

She collected the lanugo hairs of 30 families from the society, and spent 8 months embroidering these lanugo hairs on the first footprints of the newborn babies, which was deeply loved by parents.

Hope hair embroidery culture enters thousands of households

　　At present, Guo Xiaoqi is preparing for the master's degree at the School of Experimental Art of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She has lived in Suzhou for nearly 10 years. When talking about her future plans, she said that she will continue on the road of creating embroidery. There are two types. First, I will use traditional hair embroidery techniques to create, and second, I will present hair embroidery through contemporary art forms."

　　Speaking of Guo Xiaoqi, Zhou Yinghua was deeply impressed.

She told the Yangzi Evening News Ziniu News reporter: "There are not many young people like Guo Xiaoqi who learn hair embroidery. Many people are impatient and unable to sit down. It is not easy for her to persist for so long." Zhou Yinghua said frankly, taking hair embroidery as an example , It is unrealistic to have five or six years to settle down and learn the basic skills. You must have so much time to learn, "Nowadays, many young people can't stand loneliness, and there is a long way to go in cultivating new talents."

　　To Zhou Yinghua's relief, she currently offers hair embroidery courses in a middle school in Suzhou, with two classes a week.

She taught 15 students hair embroidery theory and needle skills by hand, and let the students play freely to embroider their favorite patterns.

She said: "I am an accountant myself, and I fell in love with embroidery under the influence of my father. I found it fun at first, and later it became a professional study."

　　In Zhou Yinghua's view, hair embroidery is a living art.

She is currently developing fetal hair embroidery, which combines the hair of parents, mothers and children to make a work. "Our previous hair embroidery works belonged to collections. The price is relatively expensive, and it is difficult for ordinary families to afford. Fetal hair embroidery is a new development point for us now, which can make hair embroidery culture enter thousands of households." (Yangtze Evening News)