By: Ellen Wang

Soon, a new exhibition will open in the New Museum in Manhattan named “Tuan Andrew Nguyen: Radiant Remembrance.” The main part of this exhibition was fittingly named “Unburied Sounds,” as the art there was as unique as the name. Inspired by the countless wars that had ravaged the region, this exhibit defines the harsh reality of living in those times.

Coming from an area riddled with the aftermath of war, Nguyen was 2 years old when he escaped to America to grow up safe. He studied at the University of California, Irvine as a premed student when he discovered the wonders of art. Later studying under the notorious Daniel Joseph Martinez, famous for working on the 1995 Whitney Biennial, and the Whitney Biennial’s art simply stood for: “I Can’t Imagine Ever Wanting to Be White.” However, he still had to return to the place he had ran from.

Going back to Ho Chi Min city meant going back to where he came from. As described in his work, “Unburied Sounds,” death and people left with permanent disabilities were a common sight around areas where bombs littered the ground. The story is about Nguyet, whose father had died trying to scavenge any scraps to sell, and now his mother is continuing the tradition. Her mother had been deeply traumatized by her father’s death, but she continues to scavenge the minefields.

From Nguyen’s film, “The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon,” a young woman was displayed making impeccably balanced mobiles out of unexploded bomb casings. She then stumbled across a magazine about Alexander Calder, and suddenly was set on the fact that the reincarnation of Calder, due to her ability to balance things, and make them into pieces of art. For assistance, she goes to a Buddhist temple where the bell there was happens to be made out of an unexploded American shell. He also has many other shorter videos capturing a similar moment in time, where the land is nothing more than a hellscape. But for many, this was their reality for a long time, for most of their lives.

As Nguyen states: “My starting point is Vietnam. But my ambition is to extend it beyond just the narratives of Vietnam,” is the true meaning behind his art. To show people what has occurs to make us who we are today.