REINCARNATIONS OF SHADOWS

2023, two-channel video, color, sound, 16’30”

Commissioned by Fondazione In Between Art Film in collaboration with Pirelli HangarBiccoca, Milan. Courtesy of the artist, Fondazione In Between Art Film, and Pirelli HangarBicocca

THAO NGUYEN PHAN

Thao Nguyen Phan (1987, Vietnam) has developed a visual language in which pictorial matter, acting as a conceptual, narrative, and connective element, combines with different media and supports, from textiles to printed books. In her videos, painting comes alive, creating a dreamlike imagery in which folk traditions, fairy-tale narratives, literature, philosophy, and everyday life merge. The artist traces Vietnam’s turbulent historical events, reflecting on environmental and social changes related to human impact, such as the exploitation of natural resources and the destruction and colonization of the landscape.

Reincarnations of Shadows (Moving-Image-Poem) is inspired by the historical figure of Diem Phung Thi (1920-2022), a Vietnamese female sculptor whose presence materializes through fragments of interviews and is also evoked in the flow of subtitles citing texts that Thao Nguyen Phan drew from Diem Phung Thi personal archive. Through a delicate and sincere narrative, the work connects the private and public dimensions of the modernist artist’s life, letting her silent but deep desire for resistance and freedom emerge. The two screens, arranged vertically one next to the other, are a direct reference to the classical portrait tradition in art history, while the images are rhythmically accompanied by the sound of the dan tranh, a traditional Vietnamese string instrument. Phan explained, «I would like to further develop the relationship between moving images and drawings, how the act of drawing can coexist in the video medium as an ecosystem, and to continue to explore the poetic relations within pioneering female artists in post-colonial geographies—a hidden part of art history that shapes how we are and what we will become.» (Lucia Aspesi and Fiammetta Griccioli)