Tribal Sculpture Southern Lao People's Democratic Republic: Concepts of semiotics and folklore towards the presentation of representative images in contemporary art

Abstract

This article is part of the research on “Tribal Sculpture Southern Lao People's Democratic Republic: Style, Wisdom, and Aesthetics towards the Creation of Contemporary Sculpture” aims to study semiotics and folklore in tribal sculpture of Lao PDR. and used as a framework for creative contemporary art on the issue of identity exploration. Cultural diversity and social criticism Use qualitative research methods. The target group is the Katu Ban Kan Don Mai tribe, Sekong Subdistrict. Three types of interviews are used in research: unstructured, structured, and observational. The data were analyzed using the concepts of Saussure's semiotics and Westhill's folklore. The study found that tribal sculptures are folklore objects that reflect social dynamics. Play a role according to spiritualism beliefs This is consistent with Saussure's comparison of sculpture as a grammatical unit of meaning. The shapes and stories have full meaning when connected to the context of rituals, people, and communities, influencing “Creating contemporary art through anthropological processes,” which is consistent with West Hill saying “The folklore of local cultures has always been the driving force of contemporary art.” which is affected by changes in the culture of nation-states It preserves identity at the conceptual level. to cope with social change politics and economics Therefore, the tribe had to adapt. The existence of the sculpture thus preserves the diverse identities of the tribes. The sculptures and rituals bring out folk wisdom to express identity in various forms. Today's rituals are a visual representation of the tribes affected by the changes. As a result, the adjustments created new meanings and functions for the sculptures that overlapped traditional beliefs. Therefore, introducing sculpture into contemporary art must pay attention to the interpretive context.