VietNamNet Bridge – When asking the philosophical question “If you can change one thing in the society, what will you change?” Ting-Ting Cheng, a Taiwanese artist in the city for one month for an art-exchange project in HCMC, is always intrigued with the replies but she is certain what her response would be ‘I would like to change people’s mind’

Cheng has joined an open studio which is within the project ‘South country, the South of country’, an art collaboration project between ZeroStation in Vietnam and Outsiders Factory in Taiwan.

After one month of collaboration with Vietnamese artist La Huy they have built a project ‘If living is seeing, I’m holding my breath’. And after one month of experience of living and working in HCMC, Cheng has
experienced a different Vietnam from the one she read about in books or in the media.

In this project, the artists were interested in how the world perceived Vietnam before her actual visit. Cheng had never been to Vietnam before the residency. But what helped her create her impression of the city?

 “Basically I am interested in how the worldwide impression of a city was formed. I think for me, it’s not important how foreigners or local residents see the city, it’s about why,” Cheng, who is living and studying in London, said.

She added: “But in order to know why, we have to figure out what is the impression first. I believe that everyone has their points of view, so there is no definite truth, we choose to see what we believe, but what information influence us or forms our belief.”

From this concept as the starting point, Huy and Cheng made postcards of images that they took during the residency, applying text of English and Vietnamese on the back of the postcards. The images on the front represent the Saigon that they perceived, challenging the stereotypical views of the city, while reflecting the everyday life in reality.

“Of course among all impressions, I am particularly interested in the search for exoticism and that perspective from the West. I think it’s a trait of human nature, that people like things which are exotic. But what is exotic somehow defines what is the other. The other is the minority, which is not mainstream,” said Cheng. “And as an Asian myself, I wonder how do we see ourselves? Is our point of view influenced by how foreigners see us? What is the so-called cultural identity and how do we consider it, Cheng added.

However, the text on the back is a cunning ploy by the artists. Not like traditional postcards, the text in English and Vietnamese are actually different. English text is the quotations from tourist books, magazines and websites found by Cheng, ironically pointing out the gap of reality and the exotic fantasy from the West. The Vietnamese text is quoted and written by La, describing his points of view as a local resident, hoping to raise the awareness of certain social issues among citizens of HCMC.

The different texts in different languages symbolize how people see society in reality. While Cheng, and all other foreigners who cannot read Vietnamese, can only see the side offered by English written media, they would never be able to see the side of a local’s everyday life.

Apart from displaying the postcards on a rack, just like those in souvenir shops, Cheng will also present the archive she collected before coming to Vietnam, including tourist guides, postcards, video game named “conflict Vietnam”, which represents the sources of her impression, emphasizing the contrast between exotic point of view from the West and the reality. Meanwhile, Huy will wax the postcards they made, along with others bought in tourist spots, in a fish tank. It indicates the diversity of the city, and the different perspectives from various angles.

“After all, we all see ourselves through others’ eyes. The purpose is not to remove the filter, but to explore what filter we are looking through,” she said.

After one month living in HCMC which has made a really strong impression, Cheng thinks HCMC is a great place, with a very rich cultural diversity. “One can find very cheap, traditional, and of course, tasty food, as well as fancy restaurants with dishes from all around the world and there are so many individual and beautiful cafes, even more than London and Taipei and it’s a great city,” Cheng added.

Ting-Ting Cheng was born in Taiwan and graduated from MA Photographic Studies in University of Westminster, London. She has exhibited and received a number of photography awards internationally, including in New York, London, Berlin and Taipei. By using the combination of objects, images, text and voice, she has explored the concept of foreignness in different perspectives. Being an outsider is a very important part of Cheng’s practice. Cheng’s works are owned by private collectors worldwide.

The works are on display from Sunday to Wednesday at Zerostation at 288 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St in District 3.

VietNamNet/SGT