Trả Lại

La Jolla, San Diego, 2018
Joss paper, lighter, clothes, trashcan, audio from family funeral in Vietnam
Performance and Video piece

Influenced by a childhood memory, the artist surrenders the clothing off her back and joss paper as an anniversary offering to her late maternal grandmother. Burning becomes a paradoxical act in which destruction transforms into sacrificial gifting as mourning and death is requited with rejoicement and memories.

Trả Lại, or give back, showcases the intimacy and importance of family relations in Vietnamese culture. Within this instance, she becomes a paradigm of time through the combination of past and future within the present.