Blue Eye Red Light

11 min three-screen video installation, 2007

In Hanoi, Vietnam during the autumn of 2006, three students from the Hanoi University of Fine Arts were interviewed about their thoughts on relationships between friends and the normalization of visiting prostitutes in their society. The interview is played in the middle of three screens with night views of Hanoi on both sides, featuring massage institutes, karaoke bars, and artistic hairdressers glimmering with their red windows. The constant flow of traffic creates an almost poetic atmosphere in the work, with the red-light images kept at a distance. I studied at Hanoi University of Fine Arts from 2004 to 2005. Through the school and its people, I gained insight into Vietnamese society. Hanoi has become a place I return to, though I am met with a complex feeling. Vietnam is filled with beautiful experiences and at the same time, it can be incredibly cruel and sad. I have chosen to focus on the beauty to speak about the more painful aspects. In this way, I hope to get closer to the viewers.

Hanoi Bay

6:20 min loop, 2010