VHM_0001

Descriptive title
Aluminum Comb
Date
c. 1980
Object type(s)
Description

Bắc Phong Từ Võ Hạnh hand-carved this aluminum comb while imprisoned in a "re-education" camp in the north (e.g. in the regions of Yên Bái, Lào Cai, and Hoàng Liên Sơn). He traded with a fellow prisoner for a large aluminum piece "the size of a hat," which he hid at the edge of the forest so that he could secretly work on it after finishing his prison labor.  He used tools made out of the fallen metal fence lines from the French colonial period to cut and engrave the aluminum. To polish the comb, he used forest leaves and sandy soil. Engraved on the comb are religious imageries, his wife's Catholic name (Anne), and the initials of his wife, his daughter, as well as his own. It took him two months to finish the comb, which was meant as a gift for his wife.

Current location
Rights description

Object donated to the Vietnamese Heritage Museum by Bắc Phong Từ Võ Hạnh

Timeline