Memorial Flowers

2019

Chrysanthemum, fabric flowers,

water hyacinth, bamboo, graveyard’s

sand & time

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This was exhibited in Month of Arts Practice 2019 by Heritage Space in Hanoi under the theme ‘Beyond Destruction’.

I created a time-based installation with traditional Vietnamese funeral-flower arrangement in which flowers are positioned on a bamboo and water hyacinth structure. However, the visual motif was altered. I arranged both natural and synthetic flowers according to a drawing I made of an imaginary funeral of the flowers.

In every Vietnamese funerals, depending on each family's financial condition, several to a large number of funeral flower rings are used. Nowadays, they are made of both natural and man-made, non-recyclable materials.

I wanted to question the frivolity in our rituals and ceremonies in times of environmental and climate crisis. In a way, how we memorize one's existence and passing on Earth is a threat to the well-being of our planet.