Mother's Daughter
2022 - 2023
Mother’s Daughter started as an artist book triptych of mourning. Using archived photos and documents from family photo books, this series explores how grief and loss can be experienced throughout generations, not only in a family but within a whole culture. It reflects on Hmong generational trauma and motherhood while acknowledging one's personhood.
What does it mean to comfort your mother who has just lost her mother?
Dedicated to Nana and Tais Tais.
Sib Ntsib Dua
Sib Ntsib Dua is a poetry film written and filmed by Maz Hawj, and dedicated to her Moua Family. Narrated by her mother and three aunts, Hawj documents the Moua Family's funeral preparations for their grandmother Tais Tais, who passed away in her home in April 2022 in Oakland, Minnesota. The poem exists as a single voice in the perspective of mothers and daughters who mourn both collectively and in their own ways. It embraces the intergenerational dualities of being a child and parent; A woman who aches for the tenderness of their mother, and a woman who guides and teaches their children on how to love unconditionally.
