Cao Nguyen
Sarah Kirchner
Hoang:
"My name is Cao Nguyen Huy Hoang and it's great to be your partner for this exciting colab.
I live in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam and I grew up near Saigon (the central area of the city).
I never had the intention to study photography, but when I received a hand me down camera from my sister, photography just "clicked" :))
Germany and Antwerp seems like a lovely place to live and work.
Can you tell me more about your experience living in Germany? In our popular consciousness, Germany is this ideal socialistic (I know it's more nuanced but the charm and promise of that idea really brought a lot of my friend to Germany) welfare state. What was It like growing up in a small German town?"
I live in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam and I grew up near Saigon (the central area of the city).
I never had the intention to study photography, but when I received a hand me down camera from my sister, photography just "clicked" :))
Germany and Antwerp seems like a lovely place to live and work.
Can you tell me more about your experience living in Germany? In our popular consciousness, Germany is this ideal socialistic (I know it's more nuanced but the charm and promise of that idea really brought a lot of my friend to Germany) welfare state. What was It like growing up in a small German town?"
"Yeah Ho Chi Minh is the official name of our country but the centrum was once SaiGon. My mom once told me that our city is quite young. She came to my city when she was 20 as a young student hoping to help her family after the war, and she told me that back then even the ares close the the centre were swamps and barren--true to her account I found pictures of my high school back in the 70s and surrounding them are only makeshift tents.
One time I wrote in a paper calling the city SaiGon and my professor condescended on me that was not a name. The name of this city, like its history, carries the conflict between those who benefit from this country and those who don't. I suppose it is shortsighted to establish a they vs us dichotomy in any kind of discussion, but seeing that political sphere that circumscribe mine and the Vietnamese diaspora, I can't help but feel so.
In Vietnam there are people who have money and people who need money. You must have heard how tourists get scammed frequently; but if you've been to a 5 meters room housing 3 generations of a family, morality is a luxury.
But I do want to counterpoise that with an uplifting note. Unlike many other Vietnamese students, even though my mother solely raised both me and my sister doing every job, I still had the access books and the internet. Within my neighborhood, being able to comprehend English is a luxury as well (beginner courses in IELTS goes around 750USD). More so I even have access to cameras, photobooks, and art.
In Vietnam there really isn't any institutional support for photography as an art. Most artists I knew picked up a camera and took to the streets. Leaving behind the devastation of the Vietnam war while its grip never loses from our current reality, the arts in our country needed to take a utilitarian role and largely have been cemented in the mode of photography. Most images are produced by newspapers, and most newspapers are governed by the Vietnamese Communist Party.
As a people, we care about foreign domestics obsessively and I think we are really overcompensating for our lack of ability to participate in ours. Within every Vietnamese person's mind, there is the threat that if you voice a political opinion, it is assumed that you should be ready to be distanced and isolated. Just in the past year, our government jailed dozens of independent journalists with decades in their sentences in the name of stability. This informs a lot of my artwork. Most of my work are self-portrait with me dressing up to display social cues and caricatures because when the argument of the indivisible individual breaks down after the deconstruction and conflict of many socio-economic cues that push and pull their identity, it is undeniable that this argument was use solely to relinquish any kind of collective togetherness.
It is Tet and my grandmother died. I didn't have a lot of time nor the means to know her. It's weird because as a Vietnamese, who have been through so many cultural experiences in Vietnam, I feel like I'm on the journey of rediscovering my own heritage. I was taught that if I could master English life would be better. Since then, my mother tongue was this language that spoke of inalienable rights and mass exploitation. Is diaspora necessarily geographical?
We parted her corpse yesterday. It's strange. Seeing her coffin carried like a product on a machine. Did you know they usually build cemeteries near trash disposal and industrial centers ? :))). I just knew too."
In Vietnam there are people who have money and people who need money. You must have heard how tourists get scammed frequently; but if you've been to a 5 meters room housing 3 generations of a family, morality is a luxury.
But I do want to counterpoise that with an uplifting note. Unlike many other Vietnamese students, even though my mother solely raised both me and my sister doing every job, I still had the access books and the internet. Within my neighborhood, being able to comprehend English is a luxury as well (beginner courses in IELTS goes around 750USD). More so I even have access to cameras, photobooks, and art.
In Vietnam there really isn't any institutional support for photography as an art. Most artists I knew picked up a camera and took to the streets. Leaving behind the devastation of the Vietnam war while its grip never loses from our current reality, the arts in our country needed to take a utilitarian role and largely have been cemented in the mode of photography. Most images are produced by newspapers, and most newspapers are governed by the Vietnamese Communist Party.
As a people, we care about foreign domestics obsessively and I think we are really overcompensating for our lack of ability to participate in ours. Within every Vietnamese person's mind, there is the threat that if you voice a political opinion, it is assumed that you should be ready to be distanced and isolated. Just in the past year, our government jailed dozens of independent journalists with decades in their sentences in the name of stability. This informs a lot of my artwork. Most of my work are self-portrait with me dressing up to display social cues and caricatures because when the argument of the indivisible individual breaks down after the deconstruction and conflict of many socio-economic cues that push and pull their identity, it is undeniable that this argument was use solely to relinquish any kind of collective togetherness.
It is Tet and my grandmother died. I didn't have a lot of time nor the means to know her. It's weird because as a Vietnamese, who have been through so many cultural experiences in Vietnam, I feel like I'm on the journey of rediscovering my own heritage. I was taught that if I could master English life would be better. Since then, my mother tongue was this language that spoke of inalienable rights and mass exploitation. Is diaspora necessarily geographical?
We parted her corpse yesterday. It's strange. Seeing her coffin carried like a product on a machine. Did you know they usually build cemeteries near trash disposal and industrial centers ? :))). I just knew too."
"For me, it is also true that the ones I regard as family are people with whom I actively can maintain a relationship and value.
Moreover, in a world where there are movements aimed specifically at alienating specific groups of people just based on their cultural heritage, I found it is increasingly necessary to foster a sense of family that is more broad and universal.
Yet there is an unexplainable social bond that is maintained by the blood family around me and societally overall. When I meet someone who knows my familial heritage, they address me as my proper place within my family. When my grandmother died, there were rituals that we had to follow. Even though our family was not close, most of us came together in spite of our differences under a common goal.
So rather I think the specific mechanisms of familial relationships doesn't matter as much as the goal that the family is geared towards. Does this family exist in the name of dictatorship, bigotry, or hate? Or does it start as a cradle to nurture your future. For me in this way family is also not a fixed concept but can fluctuate based on whatever forces that influence you."
Yet there is an unexplainable social bond that is maintained by the blood family around me and societally overall. When I meet someone who knows my familial heritage, they address me as my proper place within my family. When my grandmother died, there were rituals that we had to follow. Even though our family was not close, most of us came together in spite of our differences under a common goal.
So rather I think the specific mechanisms of familial relationships doesn't matter as much as the goal that the family is geared towards. Does this family exist in the name of dictatorship, bigotry, or hate? Or does it start as a cradle to nurture your future. For me in this way family is also not a fixed concept but can fluctuate based on whatever forces that influence you."
"Hi Sarah! Yes there is an archetype for family images here in Vietnam. Weirdly, in any kind of formal events or just the photo that should represent the family, these photos are very dominated by vests and social roles.
This is popular among seniors and middle aged Vietnamese. For our youths we are less inclined about being proper but rather the shift has been to more self expression, trendiness, and looking cool - this usually entails being tall (yes some of us even distort our photos for this), being white (black skin is treated as bad personal hygiene).
So we are in this transitional space that there is still an incoherence showing up in what the dominant forces of our culture are.
This sounds like a cliche but TikTok is the medium of style now among youths my age in Vietnam. So there are these cultures, families of young people breaking out of the traditional mold of what family was.
Most of my life I have been with my mother and my father was nowhere to be seen, I already came to terms with my dad about how he wasn't the assumptions I wanted him to be. I tried to reconcile with him by saying that I wanted to take photos with him. There's this slight aesthetics of being formal in the photos yet it provided an interpersonal space to be personal. After that time I think is when I decided that family is made and not assumed. So this time around I guess I'll take pictures of my mom.
My mother is an English teacher, but for me what she did was trying to be these children's mother. Most kids don't need someone to tell them the difference between the past present and the past perfect, they learn on their own. What they needed was someone to assure them that they can do it step by step. It's weird because I'm not really close to my mom and that I found her lacking presence in my life. But when I observed her teaching these kids I found that what she did was crucial to their lives. What's the difference between a kin and a fictive kin when the mechanism of what happens between them are the same?
So I think I'll observe my mom when she does this thing that nurtured these children and nurtured me.
Below is a photo of the project I did with my dad."
So we are in this transitional space that there is still an incoherence showing up in what the dominant forces of our culture are.
This sounds like a cliche but TikTok is the medium of style now among youths my age in Vietnam. So there are these cultures, families of young people breaking out of the traditional mold of what family was.
Most of my life I have been with my mother and my father was nowhere to be seen, I already came to terms with my dad about how he wasn't the assumptions I wanted him to be. I tried to reconcile with him by saying that I wanted to take photos with him. There's this slight aesthetics of being formal in the photos yet it provided an interpersonal space to be personal. After that time I think is when I decided that family is made and not assumed. So this time around I guess I'll take pictures of my mom.
My mother is an English teacher, but for me what she did was trying to be these children's mother. Most kids don't need someone to tell them the difference between the past present and the past perfect, they learn on their own. What they needed was someone to assure them that they can do it step by step. It's weird because I'm not really close to my mom and that I found her lacking presence in my life. But when I observed her teaching these kids I found that what she did was crucial to their lives. What's the difference between a kin and a fictive kin when the mechanism of what happens between them are the same?
So I think I'll observe my mom when she does this thing that nurtured these children and nurtured me.
Below is a photo of the project I did with my dad."
Sarah:
"I am excited to write to you.
"I am excited to write to you.
I am original from a small Town in South-Germany called Ravensburg which is near a beautiful lake called Lake of Constance. On the other side of the Lake is Switzerland and Austria.
Two years ago I moved to Antwerp to study photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. I am currently in my second year of the Bachelor program. I live in a flat with Catherine Smet who is also participating in the project."
Two years ago I moved to Antwerp to study photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. I am currently in my second year of the Bachelor program. I live in a flat with Catherine Smet who is also participating in the project."
"You asked about my experience living in Germany. Keep in mind I can only speak for myself here. I grew up in a middle class family so we never really had to rely on support from the state to begin with.
The welfare system works in a way that every working citizen has to pay taxes. How much you pay is determined on how much you earn. The money you pay in taxes is what makes up the welfare system. So in a way everyone is contributing but also benefitting from it. If you need medical help you do not have to pay for it. Your health insurance pays. But you also pay for your health insurance with taxes each month.
If you loose your job, have an accident, someone of your family falls sick and you need to take care of them, or when you retire, the state gives you financial support.
So in theory you always have this safety net that you can fall back on. Of course this safety net also has holes. For example the money you receive if you are unemployed is just barely enough to cover your basic costs like rent and food especially because rent is getting more and more expensive.
Thanks to the welfare system people do not have to worry about living in absolute poverty but there is still many people who live in relative poverty.
Germany is a rich country so I think we should even do more to support the people who need it the most.
Still I am very thankful to have citizenship in a country where I can go to the doctor whenever I need to without worrying about the costs and where I get a lot of government support as a student also.
How are your friends experiences living in Germany? You can be honest I am not a patriot at all (only when it comes to German Bread because it is the best and I really miss it here in Belgium)."
The welfare system works in a way that every working citizen has to pay taxes. How much you pay is determined on how much you earn. The money you pay in taxes is what makes up the welfare system. So in a way everyone is contributing but also benefitting from it. If you need medical help you do not have to pay for it. Your health insurance pays. But you also pay for your health insurance with taxes each month.
If you loose your job, have an accident, someone of your family falls sick and you need to take care of them, or when you retire, the state gives you financial support.
So in theory you always have this safety net that you can fall back on. Of course this safety net also has holes. For example the money you receive if you are unemployed is just barely enough to cover your basic costs like rent and food especially because rent is getting more and more expensive.
Thanks to the welfare system people do not have to worry about living in absolute poverty but there is still many people who live in relative poverty.
Germany is a rich country so I think we should even do more to support the people who need it the most.
Still I am very thankful to have citizenship in a country where I can go to the doctor whenever I need to without worrying about the costs and where I get a lot of government support as a student also.
How are your friends experiences living in Germany? You can be honest I am not a patriot at all (only when it comes to German Bread because it is the best and I really miss it here in Belgium)."
"I loved reading what it means for you to be an artist and how you are greatly motivated by questions of your identity and culture.
I am like I said quite distanced from my German heritage. I would go as far as saying I do not have a German identity. Maybe in a future E-Mail I will elaborate on this further because it is quite a complex feeling and I have not really decided for myself if I want to explore my German identity or move even further away from it. As of now I am studying in Belgium in an international environment. My girlfriend is from London so my whole life right now is in English and shaped by many different cultural identities.
For now I want focus on this weeks assignment and to talk to you about Family.
I live pretty far away from all of my family members (if you go by blood). And since covid we are even further apart since it is impossible to visit each other.
Fortunately I have learnt at a young age to find my way around in the world by myself. So I do not mind being physically separated from my family. My family has always been extremely supportive and at the same time they gave me lots of space to follow my own path.
I am very close with my dad. We share a lot of the same values, interests and views on the world. Our character is also pretty much the same and the older I get the more parallels I find with my dad.
As of my extended family it is all kind of patch-work with all kinds of different relationships. To some I am close and with others I am more distant.
We were never a family who placed any importance on big family meet ups and reunions. I actually dont even know everyone. But we do have some strong bonds between individuals.
For me family is not determinded by blood. Just because we share the same blood line does not make someone be part of my family. I consider people family who I know I can relay on, who make me feel safe and understood.
In that way family for me is not a fixed concept."
I am like I said quite distanced from my German heritage. I would go as far as saying I do not have a German identity. Maybe in a future E-Mail I will elaborate on this further because it is quite a complex feeling and I have not really decided for myself if I want to explore my German identity or move even further away from it. As of now I am studying in Belgium in an international environment. My girlfriend is from London so my whole life right now is in English and shaped by many different cultural identities.
For now I want focus on this weeks assignment and to talk to you about Family.
I live pretty far away from all of my family members (if you go by blood). And since covid we are even further apart since it is impossible to visit each other.
Fortunately I have learnt at a young age to find my way around in the world by myself. So I do not mind being physically separated from my family. My family has always been extremely supportive and at the same time they gave me lots of space to follow my own path.
I am very close with my dad. We share a lot of the same values, interests and views on the world. Our character is also pretty much the same and the older I get the more parallels I find with my dad.
As of my extended family it is all kind of patch-work with all kinds of different relationships. To some I am close and with others I am more distant.
We were never a family who placed any importance on big family meet ups and reunions. I actually dont even know everyone. But we do have some strong bonds between individuals.
For me family is not determinded by blood. Just because we share the same blood line does not make someone be part of my family. I consider people family who I know I can relay on, who make me feel safe and understood.
In that way family for me is not a fixed concept."
"I tried this morning to take some intimate Portraits of my girlfriend and me but I was not happy with the result. I dont really have an ideal space here in my apartment. So I decided to rethink my idea.
I decided that I want to include more people in my family portrait.
I want to play with the idea of a family portrait. I don´t know if you do that in Vietnam but in Germany every Family likes to go to the Photographer and have their family portrait taken. And they all look super generic. Doesn´t matter which family or which photographer, the results will always look the same.
It is also almost always the same constellation. Mother, Father and one to three children.
I also believe that that traditional structure is pretty out of date for my generation.
Furthermore we were discussing that family for us is a broader term and can also mean friends for example.
I asked some of my closest friends here in Antwerp if they want to (re)create a classical family portrait in the studio. I want to play with the visual language of these cliché portraits and maybe even mock them in a way.
One thing that will be different from the generic images is the fact that the people on the image are clearly not genetically related. In that way I also want to give a small critique on traditional old fashioned family values.
I will include some examples of these cliché images. Now I am curious if this family portrait archetype also exists in Vietnam."
I want to play with the idea of a family portrait. I don´t know if you do that in Vietnam but in Germany every Family likes to go to the Photographer and have their family portrait taken. And they all look super generic. Doesn´t matter which family or which photographer, the results will always look the same.
It is also almost always the same constellation. Mother, Father and one to three children.
I also believe that that traditional structure is pretty out of date for my generation.
Furthermore we were discussing that family for us is a broader term and can also mean friends for example.
I asked some of my closest friends here in Antwerp if they want to (re)create a classical family portrait in the studio. I want to play with the visual language of these cliché portraits and maybe even mock them in a way.
One thing that will be different from the generic images is the fact that the people on the image are clearly not genetically related. In that way I also want to give a small critique on traditional old fashioned family values.
I will include some examples of these cliché images. Now I am curious if this family portrait archetype also exists in Vietnam."
