Jennifer Nguyen Bernal
Professor Valverde
ASA 114
In the reading "Defying and Redefining Vietnamese Diaspora Art and Media as Seen through Chau Huynh's Creations" by Kieu-Linh Valverde express how Chau Huynh's artwork and trigger the strong hate toward the idea of communism in the Vietnamese community. There were protesters against her and Nguoi Viet Daily, a Vietnamese newspaper company that published her work on what can be accepted as approved of cultural production, which the Vietnamese community did not support. The controversy started when there was an art exhibit of Vietnamese Americans, which had art pieces that offended some members of the Vietnamese community. The controversy surrounding Pedicure Basin connects with Chau's exhibition of Unfinished story: A Tribute to My Mothers and Nguoi Viet Daily; the discussion causes issues with the Vietnamese community. The art exhibit intentions were to allow the Vietnamese community to talk openly about specific topics. However, the Vietnamese community suppressed these views, and the exhibit had to shut themselves down. I didn’t realize how the Vietnamese community wanted to stay with one perspective and threaten anyone who went against them.Chau Huynh caused waves when her work, Pedicure Basin, was published in Nguoi Viet Daily. Members of the community that believes in anticommunist strongly felt that the art piece was disrespectful to the homeland. The memory of the war and its aftermath made it difficult for many Vietnamese communities to move on. She discovered the perspective of Vietnamese oversea and understood why there is a firm hold on anticommunism. Gradually, Chau accepted and understood both aspects and inspired her to make the Marriage Quilt. She sewed these two different flags of Vietnam to union and acceptance that there are different perspectives. James Du said it is supposed to "promote dialogue between Vietnam and the overseas population" ( Valverde 93). Chau explains her pieces in the exhibit were dedicated to her family, especially her mother and mother in law naming the exhibition the Unfinished story: A Tribute to My Mothers. Valverde explains that the exhibit is not promoting communist views towards the Vietnamese community. Still, some members of the Vietnamese population feel threatened and are scared by these new perspectives that will make the community slowly accepting the idea of communism. They don't want their experience, stories, and history to disappear. People like Chau Huyunh are working to show that they are different perspectives within the Vietnamese community other than having a biased view of anticommunist.
Why did members of the Vietnamese community find Pedicure Basin didn’t represent their community and show disrespect towards them? Why aren’t the art pieces by Chau that are discussing the reading can be accessible to the public?
http://asianamtwo.blogspot.com/2014/05/hope-of-less-censorship-within.html
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