Burden of Love

Editor’s Notes

"Fertility, Blessings and Protection - Cultures of Baby Carriers" is a special exhibition, jointly planned by the National Museum of Prehistory, Fu Jen Catholic University and the private enterprise, les enphants Co. Ltd.,and the NGOB ig Ball Earth Care and Humanist Association of Taiwan. Planning started in 2011and the exhibition was held in August 2014. The special exhibition begins in Taiwan. In terms of geography, it spreads from Taiwan and then weaves Asian ethnic groups, covering ethnic minorities in Southwest China, Borneo, Bali, Siberia and other Austronesian and South Asian ethnic groups and studies their baby carriers and other child-rearing tools. Different ethnic groups, according to different cultures, living habits, climate, etiquette and aesthetic experience, develop baby carriers with different characteristics, but all of them are imbued with the symbol of fertility, blessing, and protection, where love is the common language. 

This special exhibition has the following features:

1. The use of material culture to convey abstract concepts of love.

2. Interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration, playing to their respective strengths, and integrating curation.

3. Solid research, discussing the baby carriers from different perspectives, drawing from the museum's research capabilities, and also forming a new mode of museum curation.

4. The special exhibition not only emphasizes cultural knowledge, but also hopes to stimulate the feeling of love and show artistic and cultural creativity.

These features are detailed below: 

Memories

Having a child, raising a child, and carrying a child is a process that every family has experienced, and it is also a common memory. But in every place, people's memories are not the same, there are specific customs and different practical objects. The exhibition takes the baby carrier belt as its focus, conveying through material culture, the abstract concept of love.

Functionally, the sling frees the hands of the caregiver, so that it can balance the needs of daily work and child care. At the same time, the baby carrier also provides the child with a sense of security and enhances the intimacy between parent and child. We can further understand the child-rearing methods, religious beliefs, social structures and traditional crafts in different cultures. Every object has its own story - some of them emphasize cultural metaphors, and the most commonly used on the baby carrier is the meaning of "fertility, blessing and protection.” Differences in cultural backgrounds produce different appearances, but similar spiritual meanings can be derived from them.

Interdisciplinary, cross-institutional collaboration

The cooperation of these four units is not accidental, but integrates their respective expertise and creates new opportunities for cooperation. The professional characteristics of each unit in the cooperation are briefly described as follows:

• National Museum of Prehisotry: The research team is strong, the museum has extensive experience in curation.

• les enphants Co., Ltd.: For many years, this children’s wear brand and retailer has also collected baby carriers, children's clothes, children's hats and other objects, using these objects as a source of inspiration for product development and creativity.

• Department of Textiles and Clothing, Fu Jen Catholic University: Majors of collection, exhibition and fashion design, and the professional research ability of fashion in Southwest China, as well as profound field research experience.

• Big Ball Earth Care and Humanist Association of Taiwan: Rich and profound field research on clothing in Southwest China, familiar with the context and interpretation of collections, and provided exquisite field record images.