Who is woman? What is woman? Where is woman? Why is woman? When is woman?

Female identity and labour, and gender inequality issues – these concepts have grounded, interwoven, and driven the artistic practice of Lê Hiền Minh (b. 1979) since the beginning of her career. Mounting larger-than-life structures in seemingly fragile Dó paper, Hiền Minh playfully challenges our collective understanding of monumentality and femininity, whilst persistently criticizing the social/gender hierarchy deeply embedded in all aspects of life – both traditional and contemporary – in Vietnam. In her latest work ‘The Gods of Expectation: Divine Cycle, Divine Constant, Divine Source, no. 1’ from the ‘Five Questions’ series, the artist poses the five questions ‘Who is woman? What is woman? Where is woman? Why is woman? When is woman?’ In their simple straightforwardness, these questions seek to dismantle social constructs and gender stereotypes in the definition of ‘woman’ today.  Intriguingly, her use of everyday objects that are commonly found in the home (such as a washing machine, a kitchen sink and a bed) sparks another set of questions: Why are women still associated with household work, situated within the sphere of the domestic? What of the inclusion of symbols of different goddesses associated with indigenous beliefs? What is the meaning between the expected duties of our gender and the beliefs that hold such labor in place? 

Continuing The Factory’s focus on women since 2020, in this talk, Lê Hiền Minh’s artistic vision and approach is explored as well as her desire to open broader dialogue surrounding gender issues and inequality in Vietnam.

Image: Lê Hiền Minh ‘The Gods of Expectation (Divine Cycle, Divine Constant, Divine Source), no. 1’ (2021). Vietnamese handmade Dó paper, wooden table, washing machine, inox kitchen sink, bed

Participating fee:

➖ Adult: 100,000VND

➖ Inner Circle member/ Student: 40,000VND

*** Note: Due to COVID situation, the artist talk will take place online via ZOOM, we will send registers with updated link.

For more information, please contact our Facebook page or hotline +84 (028)3 744 2589 (from 10:00 to 19:00, Wednesday to Sunday)

*Participants of the event allow The Factory and co-organizer (if applicable) to use their images and statements as a documentary for the program, for non-commercial purposes such as archive, press, media, promotion on our website, Facebook etc.