Did you attend Xiaowen Zhu's (CRF 2021) screening of her film "Oriental Silk" today at the Castle? This still image and synopsis are meant to accompany the film. Xiaowen Zhu’s long-term project "Oriental Silk" is about touch and tactility, craft and value, and the colours of memory. The Oriental Silk emporium, located in Los Angeles, is the first Chinese silk-importing business in the United States after WWII. Having once risen within the Hollywood movie industry, the shop has become a productive place to reflect on the astonishing histories of twentieth-century migration and the notion of the American Dream. Through the worldview of the shop owner Kenneth Wong, the beauty of silk and its wondrous craftsmanship stand for all those human pursuits that link people and places – and provide purpose – across time and borders. "Oriental Silk." 2015, single-channel film, colour, sound, 29 mins, film still, courtesy of Xiaowen Zhu. #CivitellaRanieri