Phuong Ngo
Phuong Ngo’s incredibly vast, conceptually-driven collection of work is informed by extensive research, found archives, world and family histories and his own life experiences as a Vietnamese-Australian living and working in Australia.
His durational performance Article 14.1 (2014, 15 & 18) references Article 14.1 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
“Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
For this work, the artist lives and sleeps in the gallery space for 10 days, surviving on the same rations his parents had when they fled Vietnam in a small boat in 1981, and aims to fold 1000 paper boats per day to mourn and honour the more than 500,000 Vietnamese refugees lost at sea.
Ngo, P. (2014, 15, 18). Article 14.1 [Still from installation performance]. The Guardian. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4020357f1b26134e3db476f33e16580cfc3e685d/0_0_5482_3697/master/5482.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d419e4cafb94c4104446666ce7d4b38f
This poignant work undeniably has deep personal and cultural significance to the Vietnamese-Australian community and in the context of the recent and current Australian Governments’ stance on refugees and asylum seekers, is a particularly powerful testimony. Though storytelling and inviting the public to participate in the mourning act of making the boats, the artist is sharing the burden of grief and anger and holding the public accountable for the nation’s anti-refugee sentiment. At the same time, the intimate nature of the work invites personal connection and reflection from each participant thus encouraging a positive shift in thinking and attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees. Striving to elicit empathy through his work Ngo says,
“The next leader of the free world could be sitting at a table folding paper boats.” (Dow 2019).
To further advance and achieve a political shift in thinking through his work is especially significant because his family fleeing Vietnam made it possible for him to have the personal and political freedoms to do so.
References:
Dow, S. (2019, Jan 18). ‘I won't give up’: why an artist is living in a gallery making 10,000 paper boats. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jan/18/i-wont-give-up-why-an-artist-is-living-in-a-gallery-making-10000-paper-boats
Ngo, P. (2014, 15, 18). Article 14.1 [Still from installation performance]. The Guardian. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4020357f1b26134e3db476f33e16580cfc3e685d/0_0_5482_3697/master/5482.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d419e4cafb94c4104446666ce7d4b38f
