Nine Vietnamese artists at John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago
By Zulkhairi Zulkiflee

At the John David Mooney Foundation, nine Chicago-based, Vietnamese artists gather in the exhibition ‘A VILLAGE BEFORE US’. The exhibition features artists Le Hien Minh, Do Trong Quy, Maya Nguyen, Ngô Hứa Minh Trí, Nguyễn Trần Đoan Trang, Đỗ Minh Giang (Jent), [[Rehearsal]] (Jung Soo Kim, Claire Lobenfeld, Tzuen/Theo Wu, Yezhou Zheng, Thuy-Tien Vo) and Justin Quang Nguyên Phan. They offer a range of media from paintings to audio work, and explore notions of Vietnamese art beyond the historical baggage of war and its afterlife. A foundational counterpoint is an American collection of post-war Vietnamese art located in the same building, largely consisting of the first generation of Vietnamese modern art and war propaganda. The collection was inherited by Albert I. Goodman from a friend, the late-American collector of Vietnamese art, Bruce Blowitz. ‘A VILLAGE BEFORE US’ is curated by Thuy-Tien Vo and Professor Nora Taylor.

Le Hien Minh, from left to right: ‘Nail Women’, 2023. 1-channel video, color, sound. 36:00:00; ‘Blessed Lady of the Nail’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, resin, wood, 73 x 27 x 27cm; ‘Minority Model’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese h — Le Hien Minh, (L-R) ‘Nail Women’, 2023. 1-channel video, color, sound. 36:00:00; ‘Blessed Lady of the Nail’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, resin, wood, 73 x 27 x 27cm; ‘Minority Model’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, wood, acrylic, 88 x 66 x 22cm; ‘Invisible Dragon’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, wood, acrylic, 15 x 5cm. Photo by Laurel Hauge.

In the exhibition, ‘village’ acts as one of many curatorial markers, mainly a reference to connections established between the artists. However, the word reveals itself in curious ways in the work of artist Le Hien Minh. While Minh often utilises the traditional Vietnamese art of handmade paper called Dó, her body of works in the exhibition is loosely anchored by the single-channel video, ‘Nail Women’ (2023). In 1972, a refugee camp named Hope Village was established in California for Vietnamese refugees. Through a meeting with an American actress, twenty Vietnamese women were sent to beauty school. While the video does not mention the origin story that sparked the nail industry through the twenty Vietnamese women, Minh interviewed Vietnamese-American nail technicians by asking a singular question: Who is a Vietnamese woman? In the context of America, this could be a contentious invitation for the women, particularly based on the tendency to compare native Vietnamese and those who have relocated abroad.

Le Hien Minh, ‘Minority Model’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, wood, acrylic 88 x 66 x 22cm. Photo by Laurel Hauge.

Le Hien Minh, ‘Blessed Lady of the Nail’, 2023, traditional Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, resin, wood, 73 x 27 x 27cm. Photo by Laurel Hauge.

Significantly, the video work is successfully framed by three stylised sculptural pieces - sufficient on their own - ranging from the abstracted ‘Minority Model’ (2023) to the figurative ‘Blessed Lady of the Nail’ (2023). The former arranges ‘Dó’ paper-made nails as spikes, seemingly evocative yet armoured. The sculptural works offer a different tenor to the overall presentation where her pursuit of nails as a motif proves to be generative through the exploration of various forms. In this sense, they detour fraught histories by settling on the realities of contemporary working women.

Maya Nguyen, (L-R) ‘Poster Girl’, 2023, colour photographs, 20 x 27cm;. ‘Beginner’, 2023, Vietnamese-German Dictionary, language exercises prompts, sounds of a Vietnamese-German infant. Image courtesy of the artist.

Maya Nguyen, ‘Poster Girl’, 2023, colour photographs, 20 x 27cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese-Russian artist Maya Nguyen veers toward conceptualism through a proposed set of print works and two sound pieces. In the former, ‘Poster Girl’ (2023), a serial composition of zoomed-in photographs offers an awkward tension. Taken from a driving school in Dong Xuan Center, Berlin, the face of the model in the poster is violently scratched out. This is contrasted by her ecstatic disposition, supposedly an expression for acquiring a driving licence.

Maya Nguyen, ‘Beginner’, 2023, Vietnamese-German Dictionary, language exercises prompts, sounds of a Vietnamese-German infant. Image courtesy of the artist.

Nearby, ‘Beginner’ (2023) utilises the Vietnamese-German Dictionary as a conceptual device. The work is paired with an audio component comprising language prompts and the gurgling of a Vietnamese-German infant. Nguyen’s works are palpably witty, and they seemingly circulate a pursuit that is both suggestive and indifferent. If ever, ‘Beginner’ (2023) seemingly captures the experience of a foreign ear and the labour to “educate”. In the exhibition information sheet, Nguyen adds a note: Please take a listen and try your best! Further, works like ‘Poster Girl’ appear to echo the implicit racism enacted on foreign bodies, yet strangely, offer something propositional at the same time. As if through erasure, occlusion or distortion of the image, identities and new identifications can be made.

Ngô Hứa Minh Trí (ft. Daniel Legut), ‘An Imperfect Heart Sings Like a Candle in a Storm’, 2019-2023, unfired clay body, resinite, wood, wheels, twine, blue.io motherboard, Android phone, fitbit, watercolor, black paint, Fresnel lens, 81 x 162 x 198cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

In the work of American-Vietnamese Ngô Hứa Minh Trí, a large, unfired clay body is paired with a lit Fresnel lens and an active cellular signal. The artist syncs his heartbeat to light, where a Fitbit enables a “call” which pulsates the sculptural form. ‘An Imperfect Heart Sings Like a Candle in a Storm (ft. Daniel Legut)’ (2023) does not offer any expected marker of “Vietnamese-ness”, where apart from its seemingly Frankenstein allusions, is elegiac in presence. More than anything, Tri presents as an instance of the freedom to express universal concerns like mortality, allowing the urgency of his immediate body to take precedence. Here, the artist invokes the Lacanian idea of jouissance, where the conundrum of life and pain is raised. Tri’s work may appear as a stark inclusion in the list of artists, but more than anything reveals the limited space for Asian artists to explore other artistic trajectories than those imposed on them, particularly for their racial identities.

‘A VILLAGE BEFORE US’ presents a palette of contemporary Vietnamese art in Chicago, mainly on the complexity of Southeast Asian identities in a setting like America. While exhibitions like these tend to “represent” through articulations that often seek to challenge reified and homogenous ideas of specific communities, a significant feature of this exhibition is actually the gathering itself. The exhibition is a promising sign of other gatherings to come, and perhaps, of permutations beyond the introductory. An unexplored proposition could take form through the inclusion of post-war Vietnamese art located in the same building, shown side-by-side with contemporary works.

“‘A VILLAGE BEFORE US’ presents a palette of contemporary Vietnamese art in Chicago, mainly on the complexity of Southeast Asian identities in a setting like America. While exhibitions like these tend to “represent” through articulations that often seek to challenge reified and homogenous ideas of specific communities, a significant feature of this exhibition is actually the gathering itself.”

‘A VILLAGE BEFORE US’ was on view at John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago from November 10 to December 31, 2023. Click here for the exhibition’s microsite.