Food for the dead

_{„Honour your ancestors.
Set up a home altar.
Offer fruits and light incese sticks.
Remember your grandfather on his deathday and prepare him his favourite meal.“}

Three Grains of Rice and Some Gold

_{exhibition, 02/06 – 17/07/22 at Coalmine Winterthur}

^{In 2022, I put together a first exhibition of this body of work, which is still very much ongoing and a work-in-progress. The show focuses on the tension and duality of being multicultural, dealing with loss and grief and thinking in cycles.} 

^{Next to the show, I activated the installation with a shared dinner experience in addition with a guided tour by the curator Annette Amberg.}

Mời, mời

_{The performance took place twice.
During the performance the artist prepared a full meal on location and served a table to offer her ancestors. Within these hours a space has been established where visitors of the exhibition were getting in touch with the artist. Asking questions, starting conversations. The audience was then invited to join the artist in the worshipping ritual, after she briefly explained the context and the steps to go through the ritual. Then the meals were enjoyed with an invited group through an open call, where questions and stories around the meaning of food, traditions, rituals and identity were discussed and exchanged.}

_{video documentation           by Dylan Wiedler
photo documentation            by Raisa Durandi}

Gatherings

Ở ĐÂU, Ở THỤY SĨ

Ở ĐÂU, Ở THỤY SĨ means literally «Where in Switzerland?». Being of Vietnamese descent can mean many things. For me, it’s being drawn to certain objects, places, and lived experiences among people of Vietnamese heritage. My country of origin remains a mystery. Despite my urge to understand, it somehow feels very difficult to access, to connect, to be part of.

This curiosity drives me to search, discover, question and dig in everything I find and see. In spaces and places, in books, in stories, in people — even in me. During this process I face a lot of barriers. Some laid by others, from outside, some by me. Sometimes they feel like heavy stone walls, sometimes like light curtains which are easily shoved to the side.

This series shows my approach to reflect my position in the Viet- namese diaspora in Switzerland and allows the viewer to have an insight into a diasporic community in Switzerland.
Combining archive and my own photography, this body of work aims to shed light on the lived realities of a marginalized group which often go unseen in the Western mainstream media.

Makét 02: From Here On Out

_{photobook published by Matca in Hanoi, 2022}

<sup>Four artists explore what matters to them at a specific point in time, be it a visual experiment, reflections on memory and belonging, current socio-economic forces within the personal realm – these topics do not stand alone but often intersect with one another.

In fleeting nightscapes, Nguyen Duy Tuan comes to terms with his private grievances and the stifling ordinariness of small-town life. Now hidden away from public view, the animal-infused liquor jars portrayed by Binh Dang are further mystified and elevated into urban legends. A self-described “no-land man”, Nguyen Dinh Phong captures whited-out real estate boards imposed on deserted backgrounds, which then become a self-fulfilling prophecy when the pandemic takes its toll on his tourism-dependent adopted city. Thi My Lien Nguyen attempts to map the Vietnamese experiences in Switzerland, going great literal lengths in search of people and things connected to her home country.

Makét 02: From Here On Out
Produced by Matca, co-published with The Gioi Publishing House
Year of release: 2022
Number of pages: 234
Size: 14 x 20cm
Language: Vietnamese and English
Print run of 500 copies</sup>

_{More info here.}

Hiếu thảo – With love and respect