CHI L. NGUYỄN



Good Luck, Here Comes Infinity
Aqueous Altar
As Below, So Above 2
As Below, So Above 1
Golden Lakes


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      Double Seeing Diptych, 2022 - 2024
      Calligraphy ink, acrylic, gold mineral pigment, chrome paint on both sides of mirrors in custom wooden frames, each mirror 46.5 x 38.5 cm



      This diptych was started from my residency at Sàn Art (2022), then made complete during ‘Ecologies of Water’ Exchange Program (2024) at LIA Leipzig International Art Program and exhibited in ‘SEEING DOUBLE’ group show at Galerie Archiv Massiv. 

      In Vietnam, as an agricultural producing country, water is revered for its life-sustaining qualities and its spiritual significance. Since ancient times, Vietnamese people have been highly dependent on natural forces for survival and for sustaining agricultural production. In the Kinh worldview, the interrelation between human and nature is conceptualized as involving interactions among three different worlds: Heaven - Earth - Humanity. Each of these three worlds is conceived of as having a dual structure with one half visible and the other half invisible to people. Earth or the Land (Đất) is believed to have the visible half containing forests, mountains, fields, rivers, and the sea while the other half is composed of the invisible mountain gods, the forest mother and river spirits.² Meanwhile, for agriculture, water is the most sacred element. As such, Vietnamese people have manifested theophanies of water and aquatic creatures through legends, folktales and traditional religious ceremonies. 

      However, urbanization, industrialisation and consumerism have not only engendered new complexities regarding natural resource management in Vietnam, particularly water ecologies, but heightened conflicts between traditional norms and collective behavior towards water environment. In urban spheres such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, public water spaces have deteriorated into public waste sites. Reportedly, many lakes and rivers in Hanoi as well as rivers and canals in Ho Chi Minh City have become severely polluted with household disposals, factories’ wastewater and ironically, with discarded religious objects from daily and seasonal religious rituals. These vibrant waterways have been designated ‘black rivers’, ‘black mirrors’ and ‘dead’ waters, significantly impacting the human and more-than-human residents of these aquatic spaces. Moreover, notorious dam constructions also aggravate the hydrological condition in Vietnam. Ultimately the once-unique water networks of these urban environments have been under destructive threats both culturally and ecologically. 

      Amongst the causal factors, inaction or lack of effort from local authorities, degradation in social behavior and negligence of contemporary society play a great deal in worsening the situation. At the same time, many of the public continue to favour frivolous and superstitious rituals. They get caught in the incessant cycle of consuming religious objects then disposing those back to the water environment. Through numerous religious ceremonies nowadays, they wish for a more prosperous life yet are moving further away from the actual traditional belief and respect towards nature, leaving alarming environmental issues unresolved and bringing water ecologies closer to a dire future. 

      With ‘Double Seeing’, I seek to question the role of human in relation to nature, in particular, aquatic environments and human’s beliefs upon water element. At the same time, it is to regard water as a threshold, a liminality to unlearn our perplexing contradictions.

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       The largest ethnic group in Vietnam

      ² Le Trong CUC (1999) VIETNAM: TRADITIONAL CULTURAL CONCEPTS OF HUMAN RELATIONS WITH THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, Asian Geographer, 18:1-2, 67-74, DOI: 10.1080/10225706.1999.9684048