Open Studio with artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai
Friday, 28 February 2014, 6-8pm
Sa Sa Art Projects, #26-28 E2, White Building, Sothearos Blvd.
In Khmer and English translation.
As part of Pisaot residency with Sa Sa Art Projects, Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai has done research at a Vietnamese fishing village near Tonle Sap lake in Siem Reap province. Exploring notions of identity and territory, Mai investigated different cultural, social and political issues confronted by this 400-household community, some of whom have been living there for the last two or three generations. She looked closely at the meaning and the agency of an ID card, and its impact on knowledge and lives of this community. According to Mai, “an ID card is like the key for change in the life of some people: it could be identity, it could be power, it might be a matter of classification, it could be their dream…” Mai’s project during Pisaot residency marked an expansion of the artist’s practice from studio-based to community-oriented, and from topics that usually concern with women to notions of identity and displacement.
About Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai
Employing various media, Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s (b. Hanoi, Vietnam, 1983) practice has been largely centering on issues of female body, sex, and constructed social values that affect women. Mai’s works usually challenge and open up these issues, confronting power relations, fears and desires through experimentations with materiality and evocation of bodily transgression. Mai’s most recent solo exhibitions include The Scar, Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City (2012). Group exhibitions include XEM, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2013), Riverscapes IN FLUX, Hanoi, Saigon, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Manila (2012) and Time and The Return, New Space Art Foundation Gallery, Hue (2011). Mai has undertaken residency at HIVE Studio, Cheongju city, South Korea (2013), New Space Arts Foundation, Hue city, Vietnam (2013) and Sàn Art Laboratory, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2012). Mai lives and works in Hue, Vietnam. More about Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai at nguyenthithanhmai.tumblr.com
