OTHER SIDE PROJECT IV / Nguyen Phuong Linh - Memory of the blind elephant

Other side project is the title of the exhibition programme started in 2015 through the presentation of Vietnamese artists in Croatia. Until now, the exhibitions presented: Le Brothers 2015 in Prsten HDLU Zagreb, 2016. Mai Nguyen at the Pm HDLU in Zagreb, Tran Trong Vu at the Pikto Gallery in Zagreb in 2017, and  in 2018,  Linh Phuong Nuygen in Diocletian’s Substructures in Split. As the second part of the project, there were exhibitions of Croatian artists organized in Vietnam, where two more contemporary artists were introduced in two years. Two exhibitions took place: Memories (2016, New Space Art Foundation Gallery in Hue), and   Memories 2 (2017, Hoang Ngo Gallery in Hanoi). The artists who participated in the exhibitions in Vietnam: Ines Krasić, Josip Zanki, Ivan Ognjanovac, Iva Čurić, Ida Blažićko, Tea Hatadi, Igor Juran, Petar Bunić, Martina Miholić, Mia Orsag, Ana Vivoda, Ana Mušćet, Lila Herceg, Iva Šarić, Iva Višosevic, Ivan Tudek, Ivana Tkalčić, Letricija Linardić, Helena Schultheis Edgeler, Neva Lukić, Ana Sladetic, Miran Šabić, Marija Lopac). The aim of the project is to connect and present the artists of distant countries, as well as  presenting Croatian artists abroad.

This year, the Other side project is presenting a young Vietnamese artist Linh Phuong, who deals with installations, video and sculpture. Her work is devoted to research, the alienation of the modern man, and the passing of human life. She notices the geographic cultural shifts and traditional roots of the fragmented history of Vietnam. The artist travels, conducts field research and collects artifacts from historical facts, analyzing places of exchange and transformation. Phuong Linh Nguyen has grown up among the most prominent Vietnamese contemporary artists, since the Nha San project was founded in her father’s home, the first non-profit, experimental space for contemporary art that pushed the boundaries of contemporary art in Vietnam. During years of learning, observing, studying other artists, Linh slowly transformed that experience into art. The government shut down Nha San in 2011. After several years, Linh co-founded the Nha San Collective – a group of young artists who are interested in developing art and overcoming the barriers in the system. The video “Memory of the blind elephant” has been filmed through years on colonial rubber plantations (natural latex rubber) in Central and Southern Vietnam. The artist traveled to the plantations and researched, recorded, documented the historical and local heritage. Many unmarked graves of laborers have inspired the artist to explore exploitation and the overall Vietnamese heritage from the French colonial era. Trees, seedlings and rubber seeds were transported from Africa to Vietnam, and the exploitation of people started to produce better products, exporting to Europe, and thus generating more income. It is a mournful fact that the evidence points to the torture of people and the destruction of any inheritance sovereignty. The symbolism of the blind elephant speaks of serving the lords and suffering, generally about exploitation. Linh feels concern for the Vietnamese cultural shift, traditional roots and the fragmented history in symbiosis of history, trees and earth.

In her work, the artist also deals with the very tree in its natural state, its structure and history. After the French period, socialism and the neglect of human rights in plantations appeared, and the rubber industry is still very developed in Vietnam today. The artist, instead of looking into the past with nostalgia, focuses on today’s places of exploitation and realizes that all are silent – the trees, humans, animals and nature, all are silent about the history through multiple regimes.

Project author and curator: Marija Lopac

Memory of the blind elephant – video, one chanel, 14,27 min, 2014.-2016.