The art of Dinh Q. Le
This Vietnamese American artist’s work is exhibited at the Asia Society in NYC. Asiasociety.org
Dinh Q. Le was born in a small village in Vietnam on the Cambodian border, immigrated with his family to the U.S. via Thailand and later returned to Vietnam, where he has lived for nearly ten years.
His work is very powerful, he uses the effects and consequences of the war in Vietnam as the starting point of his art. At the entrance are a series of sculptures called Lotus Land, which have images of children that were conjoined twins coming out of a lotus. This was in reference to the effects of agent orange that had been sprayed in Vietnam from 1961-1971. The conjoined twins that were born in Vietnam were a symbol of thedevastation of the war, but then some villagers started treating these children as symbols of good luck. The artist was showing how some thing that is defective can be reinterpreted as a positive depending on your perception of it. On the left breast of the twins, were the names of the company that had prepared the herbicide, Monsanto and Dow Chemicals.
Defective gene was another exhibit, which had mini images of the conjoined twins, little two inch dolls. Dinh Q. Le included a series of pacifiers that had two nipples, and clothes that had two hoddies. Looking at these images was disturbing, what people do to other hurt people for effects that last generations.
Another exhibit was a woven curtain of photographs and notes from the war. You could look at the exhibit from both sides. On each side their was an image in black& white of a Vietnamese person, and then a note written behind the photograph. Some the notes described how family members were tortured, abused, beaten and killed.
On a more cheerful note their were some tourist posters that had scenes of enticing blue water, golden sands and clear skies, and written on that poster were the words welcome to My Lai. This was the site of the My Lai Massacre of 1968, where over 300 unarmed south Vietnamese people were massacred by the Charlie Company 11th brigade, American division.
Another tourist poster had a red background with young Vietnamese women going to work, and the white lettering spelt out
so sorry to hear that you are still not over us.
come back to vietnam for closure!
http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K09342.html
Dinh Q. Le was born in a small village in Vietnam on the Cambodian border, immigrated with his family to the U.S. via Thailand and later returned to Vietnam, where he has lived for nearly ten years.
His work is very powerful, he uses the effects and consequences of the war in Vietnam as the starting point of his art. At the entrance are a series of sculptures called Lotus Land, which have images of children that were conjoined twins coming out of a lotus. This was in reference to the effects of agent orange that had been sprayed in Vietnam from 1961-1971. The conjoined twins that were born in Vietnam were a symbol of thedevastation of the war, but then some villagers started treating these children as symbols of good luck. The artist was showing how some thing that is defective can be reinterpreted as a positive depending on your perception of it. On the left breast of the twins, were the names of the company that had prepared the herbicide, Monsanto and Dow Chemicals.
Defective gene was another exhibit, which had mini images of the conjoined twins, little two inch dolls. Dinh Q. Le included a series of pacifiers that had two nipples, and clothes that had two hoddies. Looking at these images was disturbing, what people do to other hurt people for effects that last generations.
Another exhibit was a woven curtain of photographs and notes from the war. You could look at the exhibit from both sides. On each side their was an image in black& white of a Vietnamese person, and then a note written behind the photograph. Some the notes described how family members were tortured, abused, beaten and killed.
On a more cheerful note their were some tourist posters that had scenes of enticing blue water, golden sands and clear skies, and written on that poster were the words welcome to My Lai. This was the site of the My Lai Massacre of 1968, where over 300 unarmed south Vietnamese people were massacred by the Charlie Company 11th brigade, American division.
Another tourist poster had a red background with young Vietnamese women going to work, and the white lettering spelt out
so sorry to hear that you are still not over us.
come back to vietnam for closure!
http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K09342.html
Comments