Phuong Ngo: Conflicts of Colonisation
Phuong Ngo, Heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames (Lost and Found), 2019 Inkjet print found postcard, 40 x 30cm
The work of Phuong Ngo explores the French colonisation of Vietnam resulting in a country governed by the “complexities of conflict and war, displacement, trauma, migration, and colonial legacies” (Photo, 2021). The series Lost and found uses archival images to juxtapose elements from French culture and Vietnamese culture. For example, Heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames, 2019, layers two perspectives of two different Notre Dame cathedrals. The well-known one in France burning down and one from Vietnam is almost identical yet unheard of due to the dominating influences of France. The cathedrals in different contexts lead to questions as to why European influence produces such domination and supremacy.
Phuong Ngo, No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother (Lost and Found), 2020, Pigment print found postcard, 40 x 25.5 cm
The complexities of war and conflict are further sourced through No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother, 2020. Part of the same series, this work explores the difference in the executions as “humane” vs “inhumane” between Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI and Vietnamese Political dissidents referred to as “pirates” (Ngo, 2021). The archival collage piece draws on comparisons between the guillotine used to execute Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI more than a century before the beheadings of Vietnamese political dissidents as a “humane practice”.
Phuong Ngo, Colony (The Vietnam Archive Project), 2017, Found photo, Perspex, postage stamps, terylene, steel, 300 x 180 x 180 cm
Similarly, Phuong’s work Colony from the project The Vietnam Archive Project (2010-ongoing) uses found Vietnamese photographs of the experience of war and postage stamps to convey histories and memories of Vietnam. The identities of the Vietnamese subjects in this work have been referred to as have been “further obscured” (Ngo, 2021), due to the invading French influence. This has therefore taken a great part in transforming the post-colonial identity of Vietnam. In this video, Ngo speaks about his experiences with creating Colony and the themes of history and memory.
Correspondingly, Hayley Millar Baker’s work Untitled 1 (I’m the Captain Now), 2016 reflects upon the post-colonial influence on aboriginal spirituality to which Western religion has caused a deconstruction to Indigenous Australians “connection with land, spirit and dreaming” (Baker, 2016). Moreover, both artists explore the effects of western colonisation in their works, which has transformed their histories and cultural identities.
Hayley Miller Baker, Untitled 1 (I’m the Captain Now), 2016, Inkjet on cotton rag, 20x 20cm
References:
Baker, H. M. (2016). Untitled 1 (I’m the Captain Now) (Sydney) [Inkject on cotton rag]. UTS Gallery and Art Collection. https://therewewereallinoneplace.com/1-im-the-captain-now.html
Photo 2021. (2021). Phuong Ngo [Online Photography Archive]. Photo 2021. https://photo.org.au/artists/phuong-ngo
Ngo, P. (n.d.). Lost and Found (2020-ongoing). Phuong Ngo: Lost and Found (2020-Ongoing). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.phuongngo.art/art-work/project-one-ct6fc
Ngo, P. (2017). Colony (The Vietnam Archive Project) (Online) [Found photo, Perspex, postage stamps, terylene, steel]. Art and Australia. https://www.artandaustralia.com/file/nd0206989190309jpg-0
Ngo, P. (2019). , Heart breaking to see a house of God in flames (Lost and Found) (Online) [Inkject print, found postcard]. Phuong Ngo art. https://www.phuongngo.art/art-work
Ngo, P. (2020). No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my breast, who does not know the heart of a mother (Lost and Found) (Online) [Pigment print, found postcard]. Phuong Ngo Art. https://www.phuongngo.art/art-work/project-one-ct6fc
Ngo, P. (2021). Phuong Ngo Lecture [80067 Photography Guest Lecture Program]. UTS Canvas. https://canvas.uts.edu.au/
TiVi Tuần-san. (2017, May 18). Artwork by Vietnamese-Australian Phuong Ngo exhibiting at The Substation [YouTube video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8jC9eYoogo
