SAFEGUARDING: VIETNAM
As part of a larger series on safeguarding culture, SAFEGUARDING: VIETNAM was a project that deeply resonated with my exploration of how societies preserve their identity and landscape in the face of historical trauma. This piece was exhibited at my solo show at Kunstlerhaus Bethanian, forming a crucial part of my investigation into the scars left by war and colonization, and how a nationâs culture endures through those wounds. The exhibition also extended into a video project about safeguarding the intangible heritage of sound, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Vedas of India to the didgeridoo of Australia, though I never completed this due to my cancer treatment.
In VIETNAM, I was drawn to the question of how a country balances the preservation of its cultural and natural landscapes with the remnants of war that still shape its identity. Vietnamâs history is marked by devastationâbombed landscapes, pillaged temples, and colonization that altered the physical and cultural fabric of the country. Yet, there is something profoundly moving about how nature reclaims what has been destroyed. Forests slowly overtaking bomb craters, life sprouting from land once rendered barren by conflict. In the midst of this, sacred objects in museums tell a different storyâstatues beheaded by looters, remnants of a past interrupted by external forces.
