The New Kiều, 2019
Edible rice papers, pen, plastic flowers, threads, photograph collage on Vietnamese dó paper,
each 37 x 50 cm
Truyện Kiều or The Tale of Kieu is an epic poem by Nguyễn Du and is considered a classical masterpiece in Vietnamese literature. In appreciation of its various translations and in reverence for the poet Nguyễn Du, the Goethe-Institut Hanoi created a series of public seminar, film screenings and a picture competition to raise the question of its contemporary interpretation and the question of today’s role and image of women in Vietnam.
With this work, I wanted to create a series of concrete poetry in which audiences can weave in their own interpretations of women’ roles in current time with regards to domestic, political and pop-culture contexts. I used edible rice papers as tracing papers to extract selective text and silhouettes from three film stills of Trinh T. Minh-ha’s Surname Viet, Given Name Nam (1989) that was screened during Goethe-Institut’s Kieu symposium. With found photographs and red threads, all elements were sewn on dó paper with transparent strings.
In large family gatherings in Vietnam, during Tết (Lunar New Year) or in death anniversary of ancestors, the meal is often an occasion to discuss and sometimes criticize the status of the young generation, especially single females. On the other hand, the translucent edible rice paper is often sold in plastic packaging labelled with logos or product names referring to Vietnamese women. They feature stereotypical illustrations of females in áo dài (Vietnamese traditional dress) and of flowers such as red roses. At the same time, it is advertised with terms such as “ngon & dẻo” (delicious & flexible) on the package and is a frequent ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine.
One of the collages created an analogy between two lines from German Kraftwerk's song Das Model (The Model, 1978) and the Vietnamese line from Hoàng Thùy Linh's song Em đây chẳng phải Thuý Kiều (I am not Thúy Kiều, 2019). These are two popular songs of different eras that reflect interesting perspectives on the female fate, with much relation to the protagonist Kiều in the epic poem The Tale of Kieu. The featuring German lyrics is “Sie stellt sich zur Schau für das Konsumprodukt und wird von Millionen Augen angeguckt” which means “She puts herself on display for the consumer product and is watched by millions of eyes”. Meanwhile, the extracted Vietnamese lyrics is “Em đây chẳng phải Thúy Kiều, giam thanh xuân chờ tình yêu anh...” which is translated as “I am not Thúy Kiều, locking up my youth waiting for your love...”.
