TRIBAL ARTWORK SYMBOLS IN XEKONG PROVINCE, LAO PDR

Abstract

This article is part of a research on The Design of Souvenirs Form Pattern and Symbolic Representation, Tribal Artworks, Xekong Province to study the symbols that exist in Xekong province tribal artworks. The research was conducted using the qualitative research method. The research tools consist of field surveys, observations, and interviews with the informants in the Xekong province Tribal artworks. The data was analyzed using the Semiology Theory by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914).

 The research result revealed that the majority of Xekong Province tribal artworks that are still being produced and can be found today are paintings, wood carving, woven cloth, and wickers. Symbols were created as a medium for communication in patterns or other kinds of arts, mostly containing the beliefs, traditions, and rituals that the tribes have been practicing. The object/external reality and the signified, or the mental concept, were created by the convention of the tribe members. According to Saussure and Peirce, this relationship between people and symbols made arts another form of sign that can measure the use of symbols and the level of communication of the symbols, which is the main principle that caused the communication system of the symbols to be simpler or more complicated. The theory focuses on the phenomenon that occurred within the tribal communication system of meaning through the use of symbols within the arts by placing the importance on the identity of specific areas, or culture of specific groups, reflecting the true identity of the tribe.