Catherine Smet
Van Nhi Nguyen
Catherine:
"I struggled with this theme because it's not very clear to me what my heritage is. I started to get an idea after a conversation about religion with my family. We don't have very clear traditions that give a sense of cultural identity but there are tiny remnants of a christian background. In my family there are only traditions that are based on this. People get baptized, do a communion, get married and so on. I'm not brought up religious but went to a catholic school and as a child i remember going to church. Now the only thing that remains is my father will sometimes before i go to sleep or on a trip make a little cross on my forehead and say 'god bless you, god keep you'. But that's more of a habit he still has from when my grandmother used to do it.
For another project i'm visiting a monestary which made me think about the huge role the church played in our town. It used to be a huge part of life for my parents and grandparents and so on. As you talked about traditions being passed on from one generation to the next, I thought it would be interesting to look at this theme in a way that i look for something that used to be a big part of our heritage and is now fading with time. Everybody went to church and the teachers at school were sisters or priests. Just like these sisters at the monestary, it's hard to find people who believe in God anymore. A lot of people are even revoking their baptism.
I took a photo of a very typical belgian dinner. Meat, potatoes and peas. Oh and some mayonaise. "
"I struggled with this theme because it's not very clear to me what my heritage is. I started to get an idea after a conversation about religion with my family. We don't have very clear traditions that give a sense of cultural identity but there are tiny remnants of a christian background. In my family there are only traditions that are based on this. People get baptized, do a communion, get married and so on. I'm not brought up religious but went to a catholic school and as a child i remember going to church. Now the only thing that remains is my father will sometimes before i go to sleep or on a trip make a little cross on my forehead and say 'god bless you, god keep you'. But that's more of a habit he still has from when my grandmother used to do it.
For another project i'm visiting a monestary which made me think about the huge role the church played in our town. It used to be a huge part of life for my parents and grandparents and so on. As you talked about traditions being passed on from one generation to the next, I thought it would be interesting to look at this theme in a way that i look for something that used to be a big part of our heritage and is now fading with time. Everybody went to church and the teachers at school were sisters or priests. Just like these sisters at the monestary, it's hard to find people who believe in God anymore. A lot of people are even revoking their baptism.
I took a photo of a very typical belgian dinner. Meat, potatoes and peas. Oh and some mayonaise. "
Van:
"When I think about my heritage, it's more than just what meets the eye- it's not just the conical hats and the ao dai. To me our culture includes the way we dress on the daily, the interior of our houses, the values we seek. It's passed from one generation to the next. As the more recent generation, however, we’re not taught a lot about our own culture, apart from what’s been told. A lot of traditions are now dying as a result of this unfortunate thing. As a Viet woman I am lucky enough to have realized this situation early and now am trying my best to learn more about my own roots. In a way this is my attempt at preserving such a precious and tangible thing to my family.
Generally, Viet culture is passed down, usually between the women of the household- from grandmothers, to mothers, to daughters, and then to their future children. It is often expected for a viet woman to know her way around traditions and customs. I want to dive into that by photographing my grandma at her house. Personally, her and her house embodies the idea of our heritage and our people, subtle but stands out.
I often think about how modern and western cultures (western mainstream media, capitalism, gentrification, consumerism and other isms) are overtaking our own. Those are things that are preventing young viet people from truly appreciating our own heritage and culture. There are other problems that lay deep within this issue however to dive into this should be another topic of its own!
For the picture of preparing a meal- When I think about preparing a meal, it is always expected in my family that you do the dishes before serving dinner, and that has stuck with me since I was little. Preparing meals for me means washing the dishes before eating, despite big or small meals and who I am eating with. It is a habit employed from a very young age that is hard to get rid of, so I thought to break the norm, I should capture this very step, in black and white at that, as an unconventional way to approach "meal prep"."
"When I think about my heritage, it's more than just what meets the eye- it's not just the conical hats and the ao dai. To me our culture includes the way we dress on the daily, the interior of our houses, the values we seek. It's passed from one generation to the next. As the more recent generation, however, we’re not taught a lot about our own culture, apart from what’s been told. A lot of traditions are now dying as a result of this unfortunate thing. As a Viet woman I am lucky enough to have realized this situation early and now am trying my best to learn more about my own roots. In a way this is my attempt at preserving such a precious and tangible thing to my family.
Generally, Viet culture is passed down, usually between the women of the household- from grandmothers, to mothers, to daughters, and then to their future children. It is often expected for a viet woman to know her way around traditions and customs. I want to dive into that by photographing my grandma at her house. Personally, her and her house embodies the idea of our heritage and our people, subtle but stands out.
I often think about how modern and western cultures (western mainstream media, capitalism, gentrification, consumerism and other isms) are overtaking our own. Those are things that are preventing young viet people from truly appreciating our own heritage and culture. There are other problems that lay deep within this issue however to dive into this should be another topic of its own!
For the picture of preparing a meal- When I think about preparing a meal, it is always expected in my family that you do the dishes before serving dinner, and that has stuck with me since I was little. Preparing meals for me means washing the dishes before eating, despite big or small meals and who I am eating with. It is a habit employed from a very young age that is hard to get rid of, so I thought to break the norm, I should capture this very step, in black and white at that, as an unconventional way to approach "meal prep"."
Catherine smet preparing food
Van Nhi Nguyen preparing food