April 27 – August 6, 2017
Hương Ngô, Study for video Hidden from Plain Sight, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.
Hương Ngô, Police Photograph of Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai and a note from Postal Censor from 1941, regarding her father's request for clemency in her death sentence (Detail), 2015. Courtest of the artist, Archove Nationales d'Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence, France
Hương Ngô, “We are here because you were there. Chúng tôi ở đây vì quí vị đã ở đó. Nous sommes ici parce que vous étiez là-bas.,” 2016. Courtesy of the artist.
Hương Ngô: To Name It is to See It. Installation view. Courtesy of DePaul Art Museum. Photo by Lizabeth Applewhite
Hương Ngô, “In Passing I,” 2017. Printed silk, armature. Courtesy of DePaul Art Museum. Photo by Lizabeth Applewhite
Hương Ngô: To Name It is to See It. Installation view. Courtesy of DePaul Art Museum. Photo by Lizabeth Applewhite.
Hương Ngô: To Name It is to See It. Installation view. Courtesy of DePaul Art Museum. Photo by Lizabeth Applewhite
Hương Ngô, “We are here because you were there. Chúng tôi ở đây vì quí vị đã ở đó. Nous sommes ici parce que vous étiez là-bas.,” 2017. Hectograph prints and hand-cut paper, theater lights. Courtesy of DePaul Art Museum. Photo by Lizabeth Applewhite.
In this new body of work that includes photographs, textiles, prints, neon, video, sound, and objects, Hương Ngô engages with the French government’s surveillance archives of Vietnamese anticolonial organizer Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai (1910–1941). The role of performance in the construction of identity is at the forefront of Ngô’s investigation of this historical figure. Minh Khai’s constant crossing of borders – those of nation-states, ethnicities, languages, genders, and classes – via her numerous pseudonyms and disguises, was key to her invisibility to authorities yet renders her difficult to classify even today.
A free publication featuring an essay written by Faye Gleisser, Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History at Indiana University Bloomington, accompanied the exhibition.
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