Vietnam in the art of Thao Nguyen Phan

There are the wounds of history and those inflicted on the environment in the works of Thao Nguyen Phan, a Vietnamese artist who prefers the moving image to express her poetics. Her message is an invitation to reflect on the environmental and social changes linked to the exploitation of natural resources and the destruction and colonization of the landscape by human beings. But above all there is the reference to popular traditions of the extensive Mekong region, a starting point for dreamlike visions in which popular traditions and fairy tale narratives merge. For example, Reincarnation of Shadows, a video created specifically for the exhibition, is inspired by the figure of Diem Phung The, a Vietnamese modernist writer. The work is a reflection on intergenerational relationships between artists in post-colonial contexts. Thao Nguyen Phan questions the possibilities of reincarnation of hidden symbols and rituals, left in the shadows, handed down through oral tales and often conditioned by the effects of colonialism.