Cutting Confetti

490 still images from video (1:32:16 hr)
In Progress

On a weeklong visit to my parents’ house in February 2022, I made time to hand cut 490 pieces of confetti from a Lotto 6/49 slip, each piece measuring 2 mm x 3.5 mm. This task took over 90 minutes to complete and required borrowed tools and adornments: my sister’s pink gridded cutting mat and plastic ruler, my father’s folding utility knife, and my mother’s favorite pair of Zwilling scissors. I wore her prized diamond ring, and in preparation for this cutting work, I sat down for a gel manicure with gold detailing at Serena Nails, my mother’s salon.

Cutting Confetti is about many things. Lotto 6/49 was my ba ngoai and ong ngoai’s lottery game of choice. I’m celebrating their daily habits and hopefulness. The artwork is also about my family’s labor—factory work, the 24-hour donut shop, the nail salon—and the repetition of small actions over time.

The cutting of those tiny flecks is about returning home through gestures, shared objects, rituals. That winter, my husband and I caught Covid, delaying our planned trip to Canada. There were quarantines, failed attempts to find Covid tests, isolated days in our small Cambridge apartment, and finally, the long drive to Toronto with our three kids when the pandemic subsided.