- writing
A book is a collaborative fruit of labor. I have had the pleasure and honor to work with marvelous individuals to breath life into the pages, and together we birth our ideas, visions, and expressions into subtle yet brilliant creations.
Le Squelette, Puis La Peau…
Nguyễn Duy Mạnh: First Bone, Then Skin… Phách Lạc (Lost Spirits) I, 2018 – ongoing, details, hand-painted ceramics fired in Bat Trang village.Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Bao. “ His visceral ceramics, often marked by scratches, wounds, and sutures, expose the hidden anguish of a country still grappling
Tofu, Incense, and Sky
For artist Charwei Tsai’s solo show at Blank Canvas (Penang, Malaysia), I collaborated with her in a game of cadavre exquis – popular among the Surrealists of 1920’s Paris – to procure three open-ended poetic texts that accompanied her three video installations in the show: Tofu Mantra, Sky Mantra, and
36th Bienal de São Paulo: Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice.
For the 36th Bienal de São Paulo: Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, I was invited to contribute three artist texts for the catalog (artists Nguyễn Trinh Thi, Trương Công Tùng, and Song Dong) and a translation of writer / researcher Linh Nga Niê Kdam’s text
Marg1n #2
“MARG1N is an annual Southeast Asian film magazine by writers, filmmakers, and artists. Our second issue honors memories and gazes that drift through Singapore and Vietnam. Through essays, visual scripts, archives, and more, TRACES unearths the flotsam, jetsam, and derelict that churns throughout or beneath today’s cinematic currents. Traces are
City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s
City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s is a groundbreaking exhibition that examines the art history of Paris from Asian perspectives. The exhibition compares the experiences of Asian artists in Paris during a dynamic period of time, featuring works by artists such asFoujita Tsuguharu, Georgette Chen, Lê Phổ, Liu Kang,
Sharjah Biennial 16 guidebook: To carry
For Sharjah Biennial’ 16: To Carry, I was invited by curator Alia Swastika as a text contributor for the biennial’s guidebook. Working with materials and concepts from 12 artists and collectives, I procured accompanying texts to highlight the artists’ practice, while communicating with audiences the main ideas of their works
There is no center
For the group show ‘There is no center‘ at ROH Projects (Jakarta), I wrote an experimental text that encompasses fragments of conversations between me and three artists in the show: Rab (Vietnam), Kanitha Tith (Cambodia), and Tcheu Siong (Laos). Echoing the show’s title, the artists shared their thoughts not only
da lama dah
For artist Ain (Nurul Ain Binti Nor Halim)‘s solo show at Blank Canvas in Penang, titled da lama dah, I engaged in an email conversation with the artists, looking into her relationship with family memories, and how she conveyed their intricacy, temporality, and ephemerality through materials such as ash and
Pengembara Molek – Cỏ Cắc Cớ – ꦏꦼꦝꦺꦪꦴꦃꦲꦤƖꦩꦸꦮꦒꦸ,: Exhibition Catalog
As part of the Jakarta Biennale 2021, titled ESOK, I collaborated with curator Grace Samboh to curate an exhibition about crossings: of languages and translation, of migration through plants and via screen, of a perpetually weird state when you are ready to shift and move anytime, yet always eager to
The Modern in Southeast Asian Art: A Reader
“Who spoke of the modern? When was the modern written? How was it written? How was it received? This collection features texts spanning the late 19th to late 20th centuries, selected by a group of scholars as responses to questions such as these. They have been written by artists, critics,
The Disoriented Garden… A Breath of Dream (Booklet)
This booklet accompanies artist Trương Công Tùng‘s exhibition The Disoriented Garden… A Breath of Dream and provides the curatorial essay written by curator Dương Mạnh Hùng, images and captions of the artworks, and information about every individual who has contributed their time, resources, and talents to bring this publication to
The Tongue Has No Bones
For artist Tan Zi Hao‘s solo show at A+ WORKS of ART (6 – 27 July, 2024), titled The Tongue Has No Bones, I contributed an epistolary essay that offers a fictive lens through which one can approach the topics of lingual betrayal, the colonial history of tongues, and nationalist
“Make a Big Quilt Out of It”: How Art and History Interweave in Dinh Q. Lê’s Crossing the Farther Shore
I contributed a dialogical essay, titled Make a Big Quilt Out of It”: How Art and History Interweave in Dinh Q. Lê’s Crossing the Farther Shore, for American Historical Review, Vol 128, Issue 4 in December 2023. In the essay, I detailed the conversation between me and late artist Dinh