Exhibition ‘No more, not yet’
Opening: Fri 03 Feb 2023, 06:30 pm
EMASI Nam Long
147 Street No.8, Nam Long Residential area, D7, HCMC
Display: Feb – June 2023
Wed & Fri, 10 am – 04 pm
EMASI Nam Long (D.7)
Tues & Thurs, 10 am – 04 pm
EMASI Vạn Phúc (D.Thủ Đức)
*and every last Saturday of the month
From the organizer:
Nguyen Art Foundation (NAF) proudly invites you to the opening of ‘No more, not yet’, an exhibition that looks back on Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s shapeshifting artistic practice in all its multiplicity. Winner of the Artist Excellence Award (inaugural edition, initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and managed by in-tangible institute), her work is presented here alongside nearly 20 artists whom she calls her colleagues and friends. The exhibition will be on display from February to June 2023 across the campuses of EMASI Nam Long and EMASI Van Phuc.
Part 1, on display at EMASI Nam Long
Revolving around the undocumented, ethnic Vietnamese community living on Tonlé Sap lake (Siem Reap and Pursat, Cambodia) who Thanh Mai has been working with for the better part of a decade, part 1 presents the artist’s ongoing observations and reflections on a community whose fate is no longer in its control. Due to various historical shifts, wars, genocide, and the complex political relationship between the two neighboring countries, the people of this community have been denied the right to documentation, legal protection and education, thus becoming displaced, stateless and impoverished. From photography and documentary film to sound installation, experimental video and archival documents, Thanh Mai uses an array of media first to slowly approach the community, then to carefully rearrange and piece together the stories (of dreams, and often nightmares) they shared with her, to finally re-present, as truthfully as possible, their collective sense of loss and irrevocable reality of continuous displacement.
Part 2, on display at EMASI Van Phuc
Part 2 of the exhibition introduces the practices and concerns of the larger collective to which Thanh Mai belongs – the contemporary artist community in Hue – with a focus on the Edge of the Citadel project. Initiated in 2021 and with the participation of nearly 20 artists, the project follows the thread spun in ‘No more, not yet’ on the uprooting and forced displacement of marginalized communities, specifically that of the 4,200 households living on and by the walls of the citadel. In 2019, Hue kicked off a campaign to clear out various areas within the Hue citadel and relocate its residents. In the name of preserving this World Heritage Site, around 15,000 people will be displaced by the end. Over the last few years, many families in the upper citadel have been forced to move to resettlement areas, leaving behind a sprawling ruin – a past being flattened, complete erasure lying in wait. Though the project revolves around a shared interest in history, heritage, culture, architecture, city planning, policy, and individual and collective memory, the participating artists all approach these issues in different ways. Together, however, their works raise pertinent issues, and at the same time encourage us to examine our social responsibilities, reflect on the meaning of being and living together, and ponder the role of compassion in better understanding the people and world around us.
Participating artists:
Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Hoang Ngoc Tu, Nguyen Hoa, Nguyen Van He, Xuan Ha, Tran Tuan, Ngo Dinh Bao Chau, The Appendix, Dao Tung, Le Thi Minh Nguyet, Nguyen Thi Khanh Anh, Duong Thanh Quang, Uyen Minh, Ho Anh Vu, Tran Chau Nhi, Nguyen Van Ton, Nguyen Duc Niem, and Vien Phuong.
Curatorial team:
Bill Nguyen, Thái Hà, Nhat Q. Vo
Visits are by appointment only via [email protected] or Nguyen Art Foundation Facebook.
Follow updates on event’s page.
