HCMC Fine Arts University

In this show I look to the ways that the Western and Eastern worlds deal with the concept “two”.

HCMC Fine Arts University
1st Floor Gallery, Fine Arts Building
16-30 May
Opening - Fri 16 May, 4 pm

Tammy Nguyen
Things That Come in Two

Artist’s Note

This body of work was made during my first visit to Vietnam. In the last 6 months, I have considered the ways that people learn and perceive differently in the U.S. and in Vietnam. A Vietnamese daughter and an American, I have been constantly unsettled about my biculturalism.

In the United States, one synthesizes the world by comparing and contrasting one thing to the second in order to establish a position. I have noticed that in Vietnam, rather than synthesizing the world, one uses two things in order to maintain balance. For example, when one eats with a fork and knife, both utensils are used differently in order to eat. While one is eating, one is looking, deciding what to cut, what to pick up, what to leave behind— processing and thinking about what to do next. On the other hand, when one eats with a pair of chopsticks, both sticks are utilized to pick up food, which has already been cut into bite size pieces. The food is accepted as it is presented.

In this show ?? ??c ?i ?ôi (Things That Come in Two), I look to the ways that the Western and Eastern worlds deal with the concept “two”. Through a self-invented iconography and/or mythology, I hope to present the juxtaposition of focus and balance in duality.

- Tammy Nguyen