The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Nguyễn Thúy Hằng, exploring the process of writing and producing books, as a critical part of her artistic practice.
Displayed in the upper galleries of The Factory, Thúy Hằng takes us on a journey – from conception to final print – of her book making. Seeing her paintings and drawings reproduced in print is a particular artistic motivational process for Nguyễn Thúy Hằng, who views the various printing errors and color corrections as an integral part of the overall development of her ideas – a process that in many ways is more important to her than the final outcome. Thúy Hằng shares, ‘In Vietnam, I had the unique opportunity to witness print production shift from manual rudimentary techniques to when private bookstores appeared accompanied by advancements in machinery, paper quality and digital printing technology’. Thus, in this exhibition Thúy Hằng gives us access to this full process, with three rooms, sharing the three critical stages of her thinking – conception, articulation and physicality. Featuring hand written notes, sketches in ink, paintings in oil and the myriad printing proofs and print blocks necessary in the production of her books, this exhibition shares how her visual and literary practice entwine in both concept and material.
‘The main themes in my books share the conflicts and complexities of a life between freedom and dependence; of the revolution of the liberal minded; of thinking about the position of women and the role of gender in contemporary life’, says Thúy Hằng, ‘The more I write, the more I figure out that I just want to erase the limit of concepts, such as the mandatory moral categories of society, culture, politics, religion, race or immigrant issues. I feel I have reached a higher level of living where I want to encourage everyone that we have a right to choose the life style we fit into, no matter where we live in the world and what language we speak’.
‘Histoire d’un Voyage: Sand in my ears, adrift of the world’ celebrates the relationship between text and image making, encouraging awareness that visual artists today are unique cultural thinkers straddling multiple media and methodology. Nguyễn Thúy Hằng would like to give special thanks to Kiến Thức and Nhã Nam publishers for their significant support of her practice and commitment to the world of fine art publishing.
The opening of this exhibition coincides with the public opening of ‘I, Me, Mine: Saigon Art Book Edition 7’, also taking place at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre on the 9 June, from 6pm.
